French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Qd2 Bd7)
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
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 Bd7. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 10. Ba3 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qxd2+ 12. Kxd2 Nf5)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 18 plies
- FEN
r3k2r/pp1bnppp/2n1p3/q1ppP3/P2P4/2P2N2/2PQ1PPP/R1B1KB1R w KQkq - 5 10- 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 Bd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
8 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 13%, draw 24%, Black 63%). The strongest:
- GM Alder Escobar Forero (2477) – IM Sebastian Felipe Sanchez (2405) 1/2-1/2 · Battle of Boyaca 200 Open · 2019-08-03
- Holger Grund (2426) – IM Andrew N Greet (2426) 0-1 · 4NCL 2013-14 · 2014-02-15
- IM Max Warmerdam (2506) – FM Ettore Stromboli (2308) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 2nd June · 2020-06-02
- FM Bengt Hammar (2231) – FM Adolf Herzog (2379) 0-1 · 23rd World Seniors 2013 · 2013-11-16
- IM Jose Antonio Gutierrez Herrera (2193) – IM Miguel Mosquera (2369) 0-1 · ITT Millonario de Navidad 2014 · 2014-12-07
Comes from
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
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.