French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (8. Bd2 Nge7)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Qa5 8. Bd2 Nge7
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 Nc6 7. Nf3 Qa5 8. Bd2 Nge7. It is a line of the French Defense. White 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 33%, 0% were drawn and Black won 67%. The most popular continuation is 9. Bd3 (33% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9. h4 h6 10. h5 Qc7 11. Bd3 c4)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1b1k2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/q1ppP3/3P4/P1P2N2/2PB1PPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 5 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Qa5 8. Bd2 Nge7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. Bd3 | 1 (33%) | |
| 9. a4 | 1 (33%) | |
| 9. c4 | 1 (33%) |
Master games
11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 28%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara (2667) – GM Andres Rodriguez Vila (2449) 1-0 · Brazil Chess - Floripa · 2026-01-21
- GM Namig Guliyev (2561) – GM Alexandre Dgebuadze (2512) 1/2-1/2 · HSC/De Legibus Open 2013 · 2013-06-29
- GM Lelys Stanley Martinez Duany (2459) – GM Denis Kadric (2543) 1/2-1/2 · Portuguese Top League · 2025-07-16
- FM Adireddy Arjun (2308) – GM Sayantan Das (2491) 1-0 · 61st ch-IND 2024 · 2024-08-24
- FM Sahib Singh (2438) – Setumadhav Yellumahanthi (2344) 1-0 · Titled Tue 17th Sep Early · 2024-09-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Alfath45 (2252) – gavagai671 (2257) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- Anuar_3 (2229) – gavagai671 (2232) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- jose1122 (1980) – damarozan (2007) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (5… Bxc3+ 6. bxc3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3
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.