Caissa Codex
C19

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation

Chess diagram: French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation after 7. Nf3

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

129,402 games: White 47.4% / Draw 5.7% / Black 46.9%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation 40,03040K
19,79420K
19,31919K
19,31819K
11,84012K
6,7606,760
6,2066,206
2,4302,430

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 1, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.24 The position is about equal

Best play: 7... b6 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bd3 Bc8 10. a4 Ba6 11. Bb5+ Bxb5 12. axb5

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

Overview

French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (ECO C19, Open Games) is a variation of the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3 (7 moves).

In 129,402 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 47.4%, Black 46.9% and 5.7% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 7…Nbc6, in 31% of those games.

It continues into one named variation. In all, 2 named lines continue from it.

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.

How to play against the French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation

7…b6 scores best for Black: 53.4%, with Black winning 50.1% and White 43.3% of 20K games. The most played, 7…Nbc6, scores 48.8% in 40K games, and 7…O-O scores lowest: 45.7%. Stockfish's first choice is also 7…b6.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Variations (1)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 7. Nf3, the position after French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation also goes on to:

Transpositions

From here, a move transposes into another named line:

All 2 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation (C19)”. Lichess data as of 1 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/french-defense-winawer-variation-positional-variation

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