French Defense · Chess.com blitz ·
How the top 10 Chess.com blitz players play the French
336 blitz games where a top-10 Chess.com player had Black and answered 1.e4 with 1…e6. See what White tries, how the top players meet 3.Nd2 and how it scores. 9 of the top 10 play it.
French games
336
Advance (3.e5)
23%
most played system
Top players' score
68%
vs ~3,000 avg opponents
Key findings
- 9 of the top 10 play the French as Black. Aleksei Sarana has no games in it. Denis Lazavik has fewer than 10 games in it.
- The Advance Variation is the most common system. 23% of 336 games are Advance lines. The chart below breaks the rest down by system.
- The top players' usual reply to each system. Advance (3.e5): 3…c5 (96%); Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4): 4…c5 (91%).
- Jan-Krzysztof Duda scores best in the French. Jan-Krzysztof Duda scores 81% over 57 games, the highest among players with 50 or more games in the French.
- The top players score lowest against the Winawer Variation. They score 56% over 39 games against it, and 68% over all 336 games.
- After 3.Nd2, 3…c5 leads. It was played in 15 of the 52 games after 3.Nd2 (29%), ahead of 3…Be7 (11 games, 21%).
What White plays against 1.e4 e6
Share of each player's games in the French. Tap or hover a segment for the count and the score.
- Advance (3.e5)
- Tarrasch (3.Nd2)
- Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6)
- Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4)
- Exchange (3.exd5)
- Rubinstein (…dxe4)
- King's Indian Attack
- Other systems
Faded rows: fewer than 20 games.
Table view
| Player | Advance (3.e5) | Tarrasch (3.Nd2) | Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6) | Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4) | Exchange (3.exd5) | Rubinstein (…dxe4) | King's Indian Attack | Other systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 10 players | 76 · 23% · 69% | 48 · 14% · 75% | 47 · 14% · 64% | 39 · 12% · 56% | 39 · 12% · 63% | 22 · 7% · 75% | 21 · 6% · 67% | 44 · 13% · 78% |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 3 · 16% · 100% | 10 · 53% · 80% | 3 · 16% · 100% | – | 1 · 5% · 100% | – | – | 2 · 11% · 50% |
| Magnus Carlsen | 22 · 30% · 64% | 11 · 15% · 86% | 9 · 12% · 67% | 7 · 9% · 71% | 10 · 14% · 75% | – | 1 · 1% · 100% | 14 · 19% · 79% |
| Nihal Sarin | 2 · 7% · 100% | 4 · 13% · 75% | 7 · 23% · 50% | 6 · 20% · 17% | 4 · 13% · 50% | – | 3 · 10% · 50% | 4 · 13% · 100% |
| Ediz Gürel | 8 · 20% · 56% | 3 · 8% · 0% | – | – | 4 · 10% · 75% | 14 · 35% · 75% | 2 · 5% · 25% | 9 · 23% · 56% |
| Wesley So | 16 · 27% · 66% | 8 · 13% · 62% | 8 · 13% · 75% | 12 · 20% · 79% | 5 · 8% · 60% | – | 4 · 7% · 88% | 7 · 12% · 71% |
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 10 · 18% · 100% | 7 · 12% · 79% | 8 · 14% · 63% | 9 · 16% · 72% | 4 · 7% · 75% | 5 · 9% · 80% | 7 · 12% · 71% | 7 · 12% · 100% |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 5 · 19% · 40% | 2 · 8% · 100% | 10 · 38% · 55% | – | 3 · 12% · 50% | – | 4 · 15% · 63% | 2 · 8% · 50% |
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 9 · 32% · 67% | 2 · 7% · 100% | – | 3 · 11% · 0% | 8 · 29% · 44% | – | – | 6 · 21% · 58% |
| System | Games | Share | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advance (3.e5) | 76 | 23% | 69% |
| Tarrasch (3.Nd2) | 48 | 14% | 75% |
| Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6) | 47 | 14% | 64% |
| Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4) | 39 | 12% | 56% |
| Exchange (3.exd5) | 39 | 12% | 63% |
| Rubinstein (…dxe4) | 22 | 7% | 75% |
| King's Indian Attack | 21 | 6% | 67% |
| Other systems | 44 | 13% | 78% |
Player by player
The system each player met most often, and how they answer 3.Nd2.
Hikaru Nakamura
19 games in the French · score 84%
Faced most: Tarrasch (3.Nd2), 10 games (53%)
Next: Advance (3.e5), 3 games (16%)
Meets 3.Nd2 in 10 games; always 3…Nc6
Magnus Carlsen
74 games in the French · score 73%
Faced most: Advance (3.e5), 22 games (30%)
Next: Tarrasch (3.Nd2), 11 games (15%)
Meets 3.Nd2 in 11 games; most often 3…c5 (8 games)
Also meets 2.Nf3, 5 games
Nihal Sarin
30 games in the French · score 57%
Faced most: Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6), 7 games (23%)
Next: Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4), 6 games (20%)
Ediz Gürel
40 games in the French · score 59%
Faced most: Rubinstein (…dxe4), 14 games (35%)
Next: Advance (3.e5), 8 games (20%)
Meets 3.Nd2 in 7 games; most often 3…dxe4 (4 games)
Also meets 2.Nf3, 5 games
Wesley So
60 games in the French · score 71%
Faced most: Advance (3.e5), 16 games (27%)
Next: Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4), 12 games (20%)
Meets 3.Nd2 in 8 games; always 3…Be7
Jan-Krzysztof Duda
57 games in the French · score 81%
Faced most: Advance (3.e5), 10 games (18%)
Next: Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4), 9 games (16%)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
26 games in the French · score 56%
Faced most: Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6), 10 games (38%)
Next: Advance (3.e5), 5 games (19%)
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
28 games in the French · score 54%
Faced most: Advance (3.e5), 9 games (32%)
Next: Exchange (3.exd5), 8 games (29%)
After 3.Nd2: move 3
52 games reached 3.Nd2 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2). Black's third move, player by player. Of them, 48 are the Tarrasch Variation and 4 are the Rubinstein Variation (3…dxe4).
- 3…c5
- 3…Be7
- 3…Nc6
- 3…dxe4
- Other third moves
Faded rows: fewer than 20 3.Nd2 games.
Table view
| Player | 3…c5 | 3…Be7 | 3…Nc6 | 3…dxe4 | Other third moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 10 players | 15 · 29% · 80% | 11 · 21% · 64% | 10 · 19% · 80% | 4 · 8% · 88% | 12 · 23% · 75% |
| Hikaru Nakamura | – | – | 10 · 100% · 80% | – | – |
| Magnus Carlsen | 8 · 73% · 88% | – | – | – | 3 · 27% · 83% |
| Ediz Gürel | – | – | – | 4 · 57% · 88% | 3 · 43% · 0% |
| Wesley So | – | 8 · 100% · 63% | – | – | – |
| Jan-Krzysztof Duda | – | – | – | – | 7 · 100% · 79% |
Move explorer
Starts after 1.e4 e6. Pick all 10 players or one of them, then click a move to go deeper. Rarer moves are grouped as other moves.
- 1.e4
- e6
French Defense
336 games · top players scored 68%
Other moves: 2 games
Questions people ask
- What do top players face in the French?
- In Chess.com blitz, the top 10 players meet the Advance Variation in 23% of 336 games. Here the Advance Variation means 2.d4 d5 3.e5. The rest: the Tarrasch Variation 14%, the Classical Variation 14%, the Winawer Variation 12%, the Exchange Variation 12%, the Rubinstein Variation 7%, the King's Indian Attack 6%, other systems 13%.
- What is the second most common system in the French?
- The next most played system is the Tarrasch Variation, in 14% of games. Here that means 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2. Next: the Classical Variation at 14%, the Winawer Variation at 12%, the Exchange Variation at 12%, the Rubinstein Variation at 7%, the King's Indian Attack at 6%.
- What does Magnus Carlsen play in the French?
- In 74 blitz games as Black in the French (1.e4 e6), Magnus Carlsen faced the Advance Variation most (22 games, 30%), then the Tarrasch Variation (11, 15%). Magnus Carlsen meets 3.Nd2 in 11 games; most often 3…c5 (8 games).
- What do top players play after 3.Nd2?
- In the 52 games that reached 3.Nd2 (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2), the most common third move is 3…c5 (15 games, 29%), followed by 3…Be7 (11 games, 21%).
- Does a high score mean the opening is good?
- Not by itself. Scores also reflect the rating gap between the top players and their opponents. Compare lines by how often the top players choose them, and use the scores as context.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From up to 1,000 Chess.com blitz games as Black of each of the top 10 players on the leaderboard. 336 of them start 1.e4 e6. A win counts as 1 and a draw as ½, from the top player's side. The games were last refreshed on 18 Oct 2026.
How we counted
We took the Chess.com blitz games as Black of each of the top 10 players on the leaderboard, up to 1,000 each, and kept the ones that started 1.e4 e6. Each game counts under the first rule below that fits it:
- King's Indian Attack: 2.d3, or 2.Nf3 d5 3.d3.
- Rubinstein (…dxe4): 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2 and then 3…dxe4.
- Advance (3.e5): 2.d4 d5 3.e5.
- Exchange (3.exd5): 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 (also 2.Nf3 or 2.Nc3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4).
- Winawer (3.Nc3 Bb4): 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4.
- Classical (3.Nc3 Nf6): 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6.
- Tarrasch (3.Nd2): 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2.
- Other systems: everything else, such as 3.Nc3 without …Nf6, …Bb4 or …dxe4 (3…h6 and the like), 3.Bd3, 2.Nf3 and 2.Qe2.
A win counts as 1 and a draw as ½, from the top player's side. Scores also reflect the rating gap: opponents average about 3,000.
A system that is a position counts every game that reaches the position after the system's moves, in any order of those moves. A row or a card built on fewer than 20 games is faded. Players with fewer than 10 games in the opening have no card or row; their games count in the totals.
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