French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (9. Bd2 c4)
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
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 c4. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 10. Be2 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.50 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 10. g3 Bd7 11. h4 O-O-O 12. Bg2 Kb8)
- ECO
- C19
- Moves
- 18 plies
- FEN
r1b1k2r/pp2nppp/2n1p3/q2pP3/P1pP4/2P2N2/2PB1PPP/R2QKB1R w KQkq - 0 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 c4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10. Be2 | 1 (50%) | |
| 10. h4 | 1 (50%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 0%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- Shenyue Li (2038) – CM Alex Nagorski (1859) 1-0 · 44th North Shore Open · 2017-08-26
- Tatiana Shimanskaia (1819) – Azat Amreyev (1811) 0-1 · Issykkul Open A 2025 · 2025-06-28
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MiranovicRajko (2556) – VoinTeka (2543) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- panoulis27 (2025) – Andrey02060 (2024) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
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.