Tree path 7 levels French Defense › Normal Variation › French Defense › Paulsen Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation › Advance Variation › French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation
- Chess Codex
- French Defense C00
- Normal Variation C00
- French Defense C00
- Paulsen Variation C10
- French Defense: Winawer Variation C15
- Advance Variation C16
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation C16 you are here
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation
Overview
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C16.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7, after 8 plies of opening development.
It is a variation of French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, 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
- C16
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 8
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
77,604 games · White 44.2% / Draw 6.4% / Black 49.4%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| a3 | 35,254 | |
| Qg4 | 14,663 | |
| Bd2 | 10,611 | |
| f4 | 5,766 | |
| Nf3 | 5,736 | |
| Bd3 | 1,771 | |
| h4 | 1,608 | |
| Ne2 | 1,251 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:49:28
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