1.e4 e6
The French Defense starts 1.e4 e6, and after 2.d4 Black plays 2...d5. Black challenges e4 at once with a pawn that is already supported by e6. White has to decide: defend e4 (3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2), push past it (3.e5), or exchange (3.exd5).
The price of the solid structure is the light-squared bishop on c8, which is shut in by the e6 pawn. Much of French strategy revolves around that bishop: trading it with ...b6 and ...Ba6, bringing it out after ...f6 or ...e5, or accepting it as a defender of the pawn chain.
In return Black gets clear plans. When White plays e5, Black attacks the base of White's pawn chain with ...c5 and the head of it with ...f6.
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Black gets a solid position with clear targets: White's pawn chain on d4 and e5. The plans are the same in most variations, so understanding beats memorising.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 c4
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The Advance and Steinitz lines create the classic French chain: White pawns on d4 and e5, Black pawns on e6 and d5. White's chain points at the kingside, so White attacks there. Black's chain points at the queenside, so Black attacks there with ...c5, ...Qb6 and sometimes ...b5-b4.
The guiding rule, set out by Aron Nimzowitsch, is to attack a pawn chain at its base. For Black that means d4, which is why ...c5 appears in almost every line. The secondary target is the head of the chain, e5, attacked with ...f6.
In the Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4) Black often gives up the dark-squared bishop for the c3 knight. White gets doubled c-pawns and the bishop pair; Black gets a solid position and long-term targets on the queenside.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4
Black pins the c3 knight and, after 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3, gives up the bishop pair to double White's pawns. 7.Qg4 attacks g7 at once. The Winawer is the sharpest and most ambitious French.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3
4.e5 drives the knight to d7 and White supports the chain with f4. Black attacks d4 with ...c5 and ...Nc6 while White prepares a kingside push. 4.Bg5 instead leads to the Classical main line, the MacCutcheon (4...Bb4) or the Burn Variation (4...dxe4).
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2
The knight goes to d2, where it cannot be pinned by ...Bb4, and the c-pawn stays free to support d4 with c3. Against 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 White builds a chain like the Advance, with the bishop on d3 and the knight on e2. 3...c5 is Black's other main reply.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5
Symmetrical and quiet. Black's c8 bishop is free again, which removes the main French problem, so it holds no danger for Black. It is a way for White to avoid theory, but it rarely gives an advantage.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nxd4 8.Nxd4 Qxd4 9.Bb5+
With 6.Bd3 the bishop blocks the d-file, so White's queen no longer defends d4. It looks as if Black wins a pawn with 6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Nxd4?, but after 8.Nxd4 Qxd4 9.Bb5+ the bishop gets out of the way with check and the queen on d1 takes the queen on d4 next move. Black should play 7...Bd7; White's 6.Bd3 then becomes the Milner-Barry Gambit, in which White gives up d4 later for development.
The name comes from an 1834 correspondence match between London and Paris, in which the Paris players adopted 1...e6.
Mikhail Botvinnik and Viktor Korchnoi both used the French in world championship matches, and Wolfgang Uhlmann played almost nothing else with Black. Aron Nimzowitsch, whose pawn-chain theory explains most French plans, was a strong advocate of 3.e5 for White.
Copy the position at the end of the main line, open the chess move calculator, paste it into the “Paste FEN” box under the board and press the FEN button next to it. Stockfish 19 then suggests a move for the side to play, at the strength set on the calculator's slider, and you can play on from there to test your own ideas.
r1b1kbnr/pp3ppp/1qn1p3/3pP3/2pP4/P1P2N2/1P3PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 71. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. a3 c4For a move-by-move review of a whole game you played with this opening, use the chess analysis board.
Knowing the moves is not the same as playing them under pressure. Play chess against the computer with the black pieces and answer 1.e4 with the French Defense, then sharpen the tactics that come out of it with chess puzzles.
Go deeper: How en passant works · Chess endgame strategy
Yes, for players who like solid positions. The plans repeat across variations (attack d4 with ...c5, then e5 with ...f6), so you can play it well with modest theory. The main thing to learn is how to handle the c8 bishop.
It is Black's light-squared bishop on c8. With pawns on e6 and d5 on light squares, the bishop has few active diagonals. Black often trades it with ...b6 and ...Ba6 or reroutes it via d7.
Both meet 1.e4 with ...d5 supported by a pawn. The French (...e6) gives sharper counterplay but shuts in the c8 bishop. The Caro-Kann (...c6) lets that bishop out first and leads to calmer positions.
There is no refutation. 3.Nc3 is the most testing, 3.e5 is the most straightforward plan, and 3.Nd2 avoids the Winawer pin. Pick the one whose middlegames suit you.
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