French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Bd2 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. Bd2 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. Bd2 Bd7. 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 1 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 10. Bd3 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.27 (Stockfish, depth 45; best line 10. Bb5 h6 11. O-O c4 12. h4 O-O-O)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 18 plies
- FEN
r3k2r/pp1bnppp/2n1p3/q1ppP3/P2P4/2P2N2/2PB1PPP/R2QKB1R 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. Bd2 Bd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10. Bd3 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
22 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 27%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM So, W. (2765) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2792) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Finals 2026 · 2026-08-24
- Ethan Sheehan (2386) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2789) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 3rd Sep 2026 · 2026-09-03
- GM Svetushkin, D. (2558) – GM Daniele Vocaturo (2596) 1-0 · 19th Sants Open 2017 · 2017-08-27
- GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (2370) – GM Daniele Vocaturo (2606) 1/2-1/2 · Gibraltar Masters 2017 · 2017-01-28
- IM Aldiyar Ansat (2488) – FM Amanmuhammet Hommadov (2354) 1/2-1/2 · Turkic Team 2026 · 2026-05-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Toto4949 (2314) – LXProcane (2240) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
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
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.