French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (8… Qa5 9. Qd2)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Qd2
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. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Qd2. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.13 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 9… b6 10. Bb5 Ba6 11. Rb1 Bxb5 12. axb5)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r1b1k2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/q1ppP3/P2P4/2P2N2/2PQ1PPP/R1B1KB1R b KQkq - 4 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Qd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 50%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Alexander Motylev (2577) – FM Allahverdi Hamidov (2247) 1-0 · 24th ch-EUR Indiv 2024 · 2024-11-08
- IM Sandor Farago (2287) – FM Eu Wen Aron Teh (2304) 1/2-1/2 · FSIM June 2015 · 2015-06-12
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Qd2 Bd7) C19 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Nbc6 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Qd2 Bd7
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.