C05

French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Pawn Center Variation

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Statistics from Lichess

490,726 games: White 51.2% / Draw 4.9% / Black 43.9%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	454,388454K
	9,5649,564
	6,2576,257
	5,2825,282
	3,9913,991
	2,9462,946
	2,6832,683
	1,5261,526

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 31, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.55 White is slightly better

Best play: 5... c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ndf3 Qb6 8. h4 a5 9. a4 cxd4 10. cxd4

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	1,439
1400–1799	66K
1800–2199	336K
2200 and up	99K
Masters, over the board	1,897

Master games

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, Pawn Center Variation (ECO C05, 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. f4 (5 moves).

In 490,726 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 51.2%, Black 43.9% and 4.9% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…c5, in 93% of those games.

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Description

Popularity by year

The French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Pawn Center Variation has lost ground since 2016: 0.018% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.023% (its peak: 0.03% in 2018).

0.023%0.018%0.03%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.023%	8,284
2017	0.029%	16,004
2018	0.03%	23,723
2019	0.027%	33,485
2020	0.023%	68,396
2021	0.018%	68,825
2022	0.016%	61,591
2023	0.017%	62,122
2024	0.016%	58,556
2025	0.018%	61,006
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.018%	19,595

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: Tarrasch Variation, Pawn Center Variation (C05)”. Lichess data as of 31 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-tarrasch-variation-pawn-center-variation