Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Advance Variation
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 c4
The Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Advance Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D34, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 c4. It is a line of the Tarrasch Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 14 times by this move order. White won 57%, 7% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 10. Ne5 (64% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 10. e3 Be6 11. Ne5 Rc8 12. f4 Ne8)
- ECO
- D34
- Moves
- 18 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp2bppp/2n2n2/3p2B1/2pP4/2N2NP1/PP2PPBP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 0 10- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5 c4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 12 | |
| All | 14 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10. Ne5 | 9 (64%) | |
| 10. e3 | 1 (7%) | |
| 10. b3 | 1 (7%) | |
| 10. Re1 | 1 (7%) | |
| 10. a3 | 1 (7%) | |
| 10. Rc1 | 1 (7%) |
Master games
188 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 26%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
- Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
- IM Alexander Donchenko (2570) – IM Adrien Demuth (2515) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-FRA Top 12 2015 · 2015-06-02
- GM Humpy Koneru (2610) – GM Natalia Zhukova (2451) 0-1 · FIDE WCh Women World Cup · 2012-11-14
- IM Tuan Minh Tran (2491) – GM Ivan Morovic Fernandez (2550) 1-0 · Aeroflot Open A 2017 · 2017-02-27
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Ergeshov_Timur (2501) – DLR_CH_1 (2534) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Pepekan (2475) – A_Pan (2409) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- yuhai321 (2488) – Ayda_M (2333) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Carlsbad Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Bg5
More Tarrasch Defense lines (all)
- Tarrasch Defense D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Grünfeld Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Marshall Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Schara Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation (5. Nf3 Nc6) D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Symmetrical Variation (6. cxd5 exd5) D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Tarrasch Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Two Knights Variation D32
- Tarrasch Defense: von Hennig Gambit D32
- Tarrasch Defense: Dubov Tarrasch D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Prague Variation D33
- Tarrasch Defense: Rubinstein System D33
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.