Caissa Codex
C15

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation, Schwarz's Line

Chess diagram: French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation, Schwarz's Line after 5. Nb1

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

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

Statistics from Lichess

4 games: White 50.0% / Draw 0.0% / Black 50.0%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
44

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 2, 2026

Engine evaluation

0.00 The position is about equal

Best play: 5... c5 6. Bxb4 cxb4 7. Bd3 Bd7 8. Nd2 Qb6 9. Ne2 O-O 10. exd5

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

Overview

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation, Schwarz's Line (ECO C15, Open Games) is a variation of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 Ne7 5. Nb1 (5 moves).

In 4 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 50.0%, Black 50.0% and 0.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…Bxd2+, in 100% of those games. That is too few games for the percentages to mean much.

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?

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

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 4…Ne7 5. Nb1, the position after French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation, Schwarz's Line (C15)”. Lichess data as of 2 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-winawer-variation-fingerslip-variation-schwarzs-line

https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-winawer-variation-fingerslip-variation-schwarzs-line