C11: French defence

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6

French defence

C11 Sub-variants:

French defence
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6

French, Swiss variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bd3

French, Henneberger variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Be3

French, Steinitz variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5

French, Steinitz, Bradford attack
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Qg4

French, Steinitz variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6

French, Steinitz, Brodsky-Jones variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. dxc5 Nc6 7. a3 Bxc5 8. Qg4 O-O 9. Nf3 f6

French, Steinitz variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3

French, Steinitz, Boleslavsky variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Be3

French, Steinitz, Gledhill attack
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Qg4

French, Burn variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4

Overview

Games on Database:

34484

Last Played:

Jul 2025

Overall score:

39.3%

32.2%

28.5%

Download master games

Played frequently by:

White
Friso Nijboer	64 games
Peter Leko	50 games
Emanuel Lasker	49 games

Black
Sergey Volkov	173 games
Mikhail Gurevich	165 games
Igor Glek	136 games

Possible continuations:

4. Bg5

18987

39.4 %

32.6 %

28.1 %

4. e5

13993

40.1 %

31.5 %

28.4 %

4. exd5

972

28.8 %

40.8 %

30.3 %

4. Bd3

442

36.2 %

26 %

37.8 %

4. f3

27

22.2 %

18.5 %

59.3 %

4. Be3

21

38.1 %

23.8 %

38.1 %

4. Qd3

13

38.5 %

38.5 %

23.1 %

4. Nf3

12

16.7 %

83.3 %

4. Bb5+

4

25 %

25 %

50 %

4. Bf4

4

25 %

50 %

25 %

4. a3

3

33.3 %

66.7 %

4. g3

2

50 %

50 %