C02

French Defense: Advance Variation 3…c5 4. c3

Chess diagram: French Defense: Advance Variation after 4. c3

Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.

Statistics from Lichess

17,539,420 games: White 46.2% / Draw 4.6% / Black 49.2%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	12,256,77912.3M
	2,197,7182.2M
	1,524,0061.5M
	437,055437K
	345,341345K
	240,596241K
	192,926193K
	112,574113K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 29, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.19 The position is about equal

Best play: 4... Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 Nh6 7. Bd3 cxd4 8. O-O Bd7 9. Bc2

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

The stronger the players, the better this line does for White: White scores 48% under 1400, 51% at 2200 and up and 54% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	2.6M
1400–1799	10M
1800–2199	10.1M
2200 and up	1.4M
Masters, over the board	15K

Master games

Giri, A. – Carlsen, M. 0–1, 2022
Caruana, F. – Nepomniachtchi, I. ½–½, 2021
Caruana, F. – Nepomniachtchi, I. ½–½, 2021
Caruana, F. – Nepomniachtchi, I. 1–0, 2021
Grischuk, A. – Caruana, F. 0–1, 2014

Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026

Overview

French Defense: Advance Variation (ECO C02, Open Games) is a variation of the French Defense: Advance Variation, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 (4 moves).

In 17,539,420 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.2%, Black 49.2% and 4.6% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 4…Nc6, in 70% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played is French Defense: Advance Variation, Wade Variation. In all, 12 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to answer 4. c3

4…Qb6 scores best for Black: 52.7%, with Black winning 50.2% and White 44.9% of 2.2M games. The most played, 4…Nc6, scores 52.0% in 12.3M games, and 4…cxd4 scores lowest: 47.6%. Stockfish's first choice is 4…Nc6.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

This line has stayed between 0.64% and 0.76% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (0.71% in 2025).

0.69%0.71%0.76%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.69%	245,194
2017	0.74%	409,760
2018	0.76%	593,989
2019	0.7%	879,206
2020	0.68%	1,986,973
2021	0.64%	2,494,787
2022	0.64%	2,417,207
2023	0.67%	2,519,376
2024	0.68%	2,445,712
2025	0.71%	2,474,246
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.7%	770,132

Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling

Variations (2)

All 12 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “French Defense: Advance Variation (C02)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-advance-variation-3