French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (8… Qa5 9. Bd2)
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. Bd2
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. Bd2. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 9… c4 (67% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 9… Bd7 10. Be2 c4 11. h4 f6 12. h5)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r1b1k2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/q1ppP3/P2P4/2P2N2/2PB1PPP/R2QKB1R 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. Bd2
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 9… c4 Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Bd2 c4) | 2 (67%) | |
| 9… Bd7 Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Bd2 Bd7) | 1 (33%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 50%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- IM Aleksei Slavin (2401) – Mikhail Yudkevich (2154) 1-0 · Chigorin Memorial 2015 · 2015-10-06
- GM Alexei Fedorov (2454) – S S Manigandan (2016) 1-0 · 3rd Athens of the East Op · 2023-12-29
- Arseniy Archelkov (1657) – Mikhail Yudkevich (1993) 1/2-1/2 · Chigorin Memorial 2018 · 2018-10-31
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MiranovicRajko (2556) – VoinTeka (2543) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Toto4949 (2314) – LXProcane (2240) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- panoulis27 (2025) – Andrey02060 (2024) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
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. Bd2 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. Bd2 Bd7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Bd2 c4) 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. Bd2 c4
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.