C11

French Defense: Classical Variation, Shirov-Anand Variation

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

Statistics from Lichess

473,730 games: White 50.4% / Draw 4.8% / Black 44.9%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	433,733434K
	12,09712K
	11,44811K
	4,0004,000
	3,7153,715
	1,7801,780
	1,6551,655
	1,5891,589

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

Engine evaluation

+0.08 The position is about equal

Best play: 5... c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Nf3 Be7 8. h4 cxd4 9. cxd4 f6 10. Nf4

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

By rating

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	1,852
1400–1799	52K
1800–2199	326K
2200 and up	105K
Masters, over the board	1,216

Master games

Carlsen, M. – Nepomniachtchi, I. 1–0, 2024
Harikrishna, P. – Carlsen, M. 0–1, 2022
Caruana, F. – Erigaisi, A. 1–0, 2025
Harikrishna, P. – Caruana, F. 1–0, 2019
Carlsen, M. – Fressinet, L. 1–0, 2016

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 27, 2026

Overview

French Defense: Classical Variation, Shirov-Anand Variation (ECO C11, Open Games) is a variation of the French Defense: Classical Variation, Steinitz Variation, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Nce2 (5 moves).

In 473,730 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 50.4%, Black 44.9% and 4.8% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…c5, in 92% of those games.

Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.

Write a description or report a mistake

What would you like to send? A description of this line A mistake on this page (moves, name, statistics…)

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Your name (optional) Your email (optional, not published)

Description

Popularity by year

The French Defense: Classical Variation, Shirov-Anand Variation is played more than twice as often as in 2016: 0.026% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.011%.

0.011%0.026%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.011%	3,894
2017	0.014%	7,777
2018	0.018%	13,755
2019	0.017%	21,253
2020	0.017%	49,949
2021	0.015%	59,780
2022	0.016%	60,723
2023	0.017%	63,595
2024	0.019%	68,696
2025	0.026%	88,857
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.025%	26,941

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

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “French Defense: Classical Variation, Shirov-Anand Variation (C11)”. Lichess data as of 29 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-classical-variation-shirov-anand-variation