French Defense: Winawer Variation
ECO C15 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4
The Winawer Variation, 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4, pins White's knight and puts immediate pressure on e4. It leads to rich, unbalanced positions and was a favorite of Botvinnik.
Plans for White
After 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 White has the bishop pair and doubled c-pawns. White attacks with Qg4, hitting g7, or plays positionally with Nf3 and a4.
Plans for Black
Black targets the doubled c-pawns and plays on the queenside with ...Qa5, ...Nbc6 and ...Bd7, or castles queenside after the Qg4 lines.
Typical pawn structures
French chain d4/e5 vs d5/e6, plus White's doubled c-pawns and weakened dark squares for Black.
Who it suits
Players who like imbalanced, complex positions and are comfortable with dark-square weaknesses in return for structural targets.
Common traps
In the Poisoned Pawn (7.Qg4) lines, Black sacrifices g7 and h7 for counterplay; mistakes by either side are punished quickly.
Variations
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Advance Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Fingerslip Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Bogoljubow Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Retreat Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Ba5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine-Maróczy Gambit — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Delayed Exchange Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Petrosian Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 Qd7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit Accepted — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Exchange Variation, Canal Attack — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. Qh5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Kondratiyev Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd3 c5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bd2
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Winckelmann-Reimer Gambit — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 dxe4 6. f3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit, Kan Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Nxc3 Nc6
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Classical Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Maróczy-Wallis Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 cxd4 6. axb4 dxc3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Portisch-Hook Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Positional Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Nf3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Eingorn Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Kf8
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Warsaw Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 O-O
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation Declined — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Bd3
- French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine Gambit, Alatortsev Variation — 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 dxe4 5. a3 Be7 6. Nxe4 Nf6 7. N2g3 O-O 8. Be2 Nc6
Related variations
- French Defense: Advance Variation
- French Defense: Exchange Variation
- French Defense: Tarrasch Variation
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit
- French Defense: Horwitz Attack
- French Defense: King's Indian Attack
- French Defense: Knight Variation
- French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation
- French Defense: St. George Defense
- French Defense: Classical Variation
- French Defense: Rubinstein Variation
- French Defense: McCutcheon Variation
- French Defense: Steinitz Variation
- French Defense: Alekhine-Chatard Attack
- French Defense: Bird Invitation
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation
- French Defense: Normal Variation
- French Defense: Queen's Knight
- French Defense: Réti-Spielmann Attack
- French Defense: Steiner Variation
- French Defense: Steinitz Attack
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit
- French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense
- French Defense: Mediterranean Defense
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted
- French Defense: Morphy Gambit
- French Defense: Paulsen Variation