French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation 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. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 295 times by this move order. White won 43%, 5% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 6. b4 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.45 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. b4 cxd4 7. Qg4 Kf8 8. Nb5 Bb6)
- ECO
- C17
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pp3ppp/4p3/b1ppP3/3P4/P1N5/1PP2PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 9 | |
| 1500-1999 | 101 | |
| 2000+ | 185 | |
| All | 295 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. b4 | 134 (45%) | |
| 6. dxc5 | 57 (19%) | |
| 6. Qg4 | 41 (14%) | |
| 6. Nf3 | 23 (8%) | |
| 6. Bd2 | 17 (6%) | |
| 6. f4 | 11 (4%) | |
| 6. Bb5+ | 4 (1%) | |
| 6. Be3 | 4 (1%) |
Master games
277 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 19%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-05
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-05
- LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) – Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) 1-0 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-29
- Stockfish dev-20231010-00263636 (3673) – LCZero 0.31-dag-e429eeb-BT3-2790000 (3642) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-10-29
- LCZero 0.30-dag-9a9c42d_784968 (3599) – Stockfish dev16_20221027 (3625) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 23 Superfinal 2022 · 2022-11-12
Search all games of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cuentatorneos (2638) – Americanchampion (2865) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- tourdefra (2770) – MothToTheFlame (2670) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Cuentatorneos (2657) – MothToTheFlame (2666) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation (4… c5 5. a3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3
Continuations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation, Armenian Line C17 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5 6. b4 cxd4
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.