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French Defense

Moves

Black scores

49.6%

About even
Loses moreEvenWins more

47.6% won3.9% drawn48.4% lost

Theory 46.1% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 198M games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
1...e6
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score falls away as the rating rises.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
51.0%49.2%8.0M
50.0%48.4%14M
50.2%48.6%24M
50.4%48.7%34M
50.0%48.1%40M
49.5%47.3%39M
48.5%46.1%24M
47.1%44.3%12M
44.9%40.6%2.3M

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 2.Nf3, the Knight Variation.

Is the French Defense good?

Even for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone49.6
Stockfish46.1

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 49.6 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

9th of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 60.8% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 40.5% · 2500+ ultrabullet

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Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More French Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 165 French Defense lines, ranked

165 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
French Defense: Morphy Gambit3.3K games
56.9%Floor 55.5%
2
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation41K games
55.4%Floor 55.0%
3
French Defense: Advance Variation, Steinitz Variation599K games
54.7%Floor 54.6%
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation56K games
54.6%Floor 54.2%
French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit19K games
54.8%Floor 54.2%
French Defense: Bird Invitation296K games
53.7%Floor 53.5%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Nimzowitsch System5.1M games
53.3%Floor 53.3%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation, Armenian Line21K games
53.3%Floor 52.7%
French Defense14M games
52.6%Floor 52.6%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Warsaw Variation31K games
52.9%Floor 52.4%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Eingorn Variation13K games
52.8%Floor 52.1%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Euwe Variation1.7M games
52.0%Floor 52.0%
French Defense: Classical Variation, Normal Variation168K games
52.0%Floor 51.8%
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Bernstein Variation18K games
52.4%Floor 51.8%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Kupreichik Variation504K games
51.8%Floor 51.6%
French Defense: Perseus Gambit919K games
51.6%Floor 51.5%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Paulsen Attack5.0M games
51.5%Floor 51.5%
French Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit12K games
52.2%Floor 51.4%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation37K games
51.7%Floor 51.3%
French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation, Reuter Gambit245K games
51.4%Floor 51.2%
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Haberditz Variation55K games
51.6%Floor 51.2%
French Defense: Carlson Gambit340K games
51.3%Floor 51.2%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Frenkel Gambit15K games
51.9%Floor 51.2%
French Defense: Steinitz Variation604K games
50.8%Floor 50.7%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation, Main Line48K games
51.1%Floor 50.7%
French Defense: Exchange Variation, Svenonius Variation810K games
50.8%Floor 50.7%
French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense3.8M games
50.7%Floor 50.6%
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Open System, Süchting Line366K games
50.8%Floor 50.6%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Wade Variation327K games
50.8%Floor 50.6%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Classical Variation60K games
50.9%Floor 50.5%
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Blackburne Defense1.3M games
50.4%Floor 50.4%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Portisch-Hook Variation67K games
50.6%Floor 50.3%
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation, Fort Knox Variation302K games
50.5%Floor 50.3%
French Defense: Advance Variation13M games
50.1%Floor 50.1%
French Defense: Exchange Variation36M games
50.1%Floor 50.1%
French Defense: St. George Defense, Sanky-George Gambit24K games
50.6%Floor 50.0%
French Defense: Steinitz Attack3.6M games
50.1%Floor 50.0%
French Defense: Horwitz Attack573K games
50.1%Floor 50.0%
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Guimard Defense, Main Line95K games
50.2%Floor 49.9%
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation22K games
50.4%Floor 49.9%
French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation7.6M games
49.8%Floor 49.8%
French Defense: Knight Variation28M games
49.6%Floor 49.6%
French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted332K games
49.6%Floor 49.5%
French Defense: Advance Variation, Extended Bishop Swap270K games
49.6%Floor 49.5%
French Defense: Classical Variation, Stahlberg Variation224 games
54.9%Floor 49.5%
French Defense: Classical Variation, Richter Attack149K games
49.5%Floor 49.3%
French Defense: Queen's Knight7.5M games
49.3%Floor 49.2%
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Delayed Exchange Variation560K games
49.3%Floor 49.2%
French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, Open System322K games
49.3%Floor 49.1%
French Defense: King's Indian Attack7.1M games
49.1%Floor 49.1%
Every French Defense variation, by name165
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the French Defense family scores 49.6% for Black, from 198M rated Lichess games across 165 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
198M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.