French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation, Armenian Line
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 cxd4
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation, Armenian Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C17, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 cxd4. 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 102 times by this move order. White won 42%, 7% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nb5 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.40 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 7. Qg4 Kf8 8. Qxd4 Bb6 9. Qf4 Ne7)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/b2pP3/1P1p4/P1N5/2P2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 9 | |
| 2000+ | 93 | |
| All | 102 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nb5 | 61 (60%) | |
| 7. Qg4 | 23 (23%) | |
| 7. bxa5 | 10 (10%) | |
| 7. Qxd4 | 8 (8%) |
Master games
803 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 29%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-01
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2776) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2809) 0-1 · 11th Tal Mem Rapid 2018 · 2018-03-02
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2763) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2809) 1/2-1/2 · 11th Tal Mem Blitz 2018 · 2018-03-05
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2766) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2801) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Sinquefield Cup 2018 · 2018-08-19
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2724) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2809) 1-0 · 11th Tal Mem Blitz 2018 · 2018-03-05
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cuentatorneos (2638) – Americanchampion (2865) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Cuentatorneos (2657) – MothToTheFlame (2666) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- ferrariiii (2616) – MothToTheFlame (2632) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
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.