French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
446,661 games: White 49.6% / Draw 5.8% / Black 44.6%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 281,323281K | ||
| 82,18182K | ||
| 28,23728K | ||
| 20,13520K | ||
| French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation | 9,3109,310 | |
| 6,7916,791 | ||
| 6,2076,207 | ||
| 3,9233,923 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 25, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.29 The position is about equal
Best play: 8... f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Bf4 Bxf4 13. Nxf4
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 | 633 | |
| 1400–1799 | 25K | |
| 1800–2199 | 275K | |
| 2200 and up | 150K | |
| Masters, over the board | 6,109 |
Master games
- Vachier Lagrave, M. – Ponomariov, R.
- Adams, M. – Shirov, A.
- Adams, M. – Gurevich, M.
- Timman, J. H. – Morozevich, A.
- Savchenko, B. – Ponomariov, R.
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: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line (ECO C06, Open Games) is a variation of the French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4 (8 moves).
In 446,661 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 49.6%, Black 44.6% and 5.8% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 8…f6, in 63% of those games.
It continues into one named variation, French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Leningrad Variation.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
Write a description or report a mistake
How to play against the French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line
The most played answer, 8…f6, also scores best for Black: 50.3%, with Black winning 47.1% and White 46.6% of 281K games. Of the main answers, 8…Be7 scores lowest: 40.6%. Stockfish's first choice is also 8…f6.
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
The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line has lost ground since 2016: 0.013% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.021% (its peak: 0.031% in 2018).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.021% | 7,551 |
| 2017 | 0.028% | 15,215 |
| 2018 | 0.031% | 24,135 |
| 2019 | 0.026% | 32,756 |
| 2020 | 0.024% | 70,946 |
| 2021 | 0.017% | 67,142 |
| 2022 | 0.015% | 57,822 |
| 2023 | 0.015% | 54,884 |
| 2024 | 0.014% | 49,207 |
| 2025 | 0.013% | 46,452 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.013% | 14,336 |
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 (1)
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Closed Variation, Main Line (C06)”. Lichess data as of 25 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-tarrasch-variation-closed-variation-main-line