French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (7… Qc7 8. h4)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Qc7 8. h4
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C19, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Qc7 8. h4. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 67%, 0% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 8… b6 (67% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.34 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 8… b6 9. a4 Ba6 10. Bxa6 Nxa6 11. Qd3)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnb1k2r/ppq1nppp/4p3/2ppP3/3P3P/P1P2N2/2P2PP1/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 8- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Qc7 8. h4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… b6 | 2 (67%) | |
| 8… cxd4 | 1 (33%) |
Master games
14 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 57%, draw 7%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2828) – GM Anton Smirnov (2569) 1-0 · PRO League Group Stage · 2019-02-20
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2598) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2701) 1-0 · Chess.com Rapid W10 Swiss · 2022-04-16
- GM Svetushkin, D. (2557) – IM Mhamal Anurag (2405) 0-1 · 7th Paleochora Open 2014 · 2014-07-22
- GM Rui Gao (2556) – FM Alisher Begmuratov (2371) 0-1 · 15th Asian Continental · 2016-06-03
- WGM Irine Kharisma Sukandar (2396) – GM Elina Danielian (2490) 1-0 · 41st Olympiad Women 2014 · 2014-08-05
Highest-rated Lichess games
- chesssigma_432 (2151) – FairlaneSwe (2309) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Mehmet_Geray (2181) – ZioCe (2170) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- TomIeuan (2165) – redemptionto2000 (2127) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (7. Nf3 Qc7) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 Qc7
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.