French Defense: Winawer Variation, Winckelmann-Reimer Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 dxe4 6. f3
The French Defense: Winawer Variation, Winckelmann-Reimer Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 dxe4 6. f3. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 77 times by this move order. White won 43%, 2% were drawn and Black won 55%. The most popular continuation is 6… exf3 (58% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.90 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 6… c5 7. Rb1 Nc6 8. dxc5 Qh4+ 9. g3)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/4p3/8/3Pp3/P1P2P2/2P3PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 dxe4 6. f3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 39 | |
| 2000+ | 32 | |
| All | 77 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… exf3 | 45 (58%) | |
| 6… Nf6 | 22 (29%) | |
| 6… c5 | 2 (3%) | |
| 6… e3 | 2 (3%) | |
| 6… e5 | 2 (3%) | |
| 6… Nd7 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6… Nc6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6… Qd5 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
32 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 31%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2511) – GM Igor Kovalenko (2680) 1/2-1/2 · European Rapid 2015 · 2015-12-20
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2459) – GM Valerij Popov (2532) 1/2-1/2 · European Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-07
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2488) – IM Abhimanyu Puranik (2475) 0-1 · 27th Czech Rapid G1 2016 · 2016-07-21
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2488) – GM Bryan Smith (2453) 1/2-1/2 · 27th Czech Rapid G1 2016 · 2016-07-21
- IM Sergey Savitskiy (2412) – GM Daniil Yuffa (2527) 0-1 · TCh-RUS Rapid 2017 · 2017-10-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Spartan_Lion (2511) – HarryPotter_el_mejor (2486) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- petrovich54 (2411) – dauchwy (2438) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Dzon_Vejn (2340) – hochkultiviert (2415) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
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.