Chess Codex
Tree path 12 levels French Defense › Normal Variation › French Defense › Paulsen Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation › Advance Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation › with h4 › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4
  1. Chess Codex
  2. French Defense C00
  3. Normal Variation C00
  4. French Defense C00
  5. Paulsen Variation C10
  6. French Defense: Winawer Variation C15
  7. Advance Variation C16
  8. French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation C17
  9. French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation C17
  10. French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation C18
  11. French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation C18
  12. with h4 C18
  13. French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 C18 you are here
C18

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4

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Overview

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4 is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C18.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

The line arises from 14 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. h4 Qc7.

It is a variation of French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4, which itself descends from the root opening French Defense.

Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.

ECO code
C18
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
14
Parent
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, with h4

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Statistics from Lichess

17,939 games · White 50.1% / Draw 5.6% / Black 44.3%

MovesGamesW / D / B
h59,134
Nf33,283
Bd22,054
Rh31,333
Rb11,103
Qg4425
Ne2205
Bd3181

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:56:46

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https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-winawer-variation-advance-variation-with-h4-2