Chess Codex
Tree path 10 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, Portisch-Hook Variation
  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, Portisch-Hook Variation C18 you are here
C18

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Portisch-Hook Variation

Open in Lichess
Share: X Reddit Telegram Facebook
Play from here → Click pieces to play, or use ← / → arrows.

Overview

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Portisch-Hook Variation 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.

Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5, after 12 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
C18
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
12
Parent
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation

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

146,662 games · White 46.8% / Draw 5.7% / Black 47.5%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Bd2128,886
Qd27,581
Nf33,767
Qg41,505
Ne21,411
Bb21,135
Qd3665
h4399

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:38:17

Write a description

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

Related variations at the same level

Sister lines that share the same parent French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation:

https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-winawer-variation-portisch-hook-variation