Semi-Open · a defense for Black
French Defense: Queen's Knight
3/3
1.e4e62.Nc3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
French Defense: Queen's Knight8.1M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
64%5.1M51%
6.3%509k48%
5.6%447k49%
4.1%334k46%
2.2%176k48%
1.9%154k46%
1.7%138k47%
1.5%121k47%
Famous games in this line1.1k master games
Nakamura, Hi (2787) – Harikrishna, P. (2763)Nakamura, Hi (2745) – Duda, J. (2730)Motylev, A. (2686) – Morozevich, A. (2731)Ivanchuk, Vassily (2752) – Volkov, Sergey (2622)Dubov, Daniil (2709) – Tregubov, P. (2588)Berg, Emanuel (2649) – Brynell, Stellan (2619)Pechac, Jergus (2620) – Shevchenko, Kirill (2645)Kritz, Leonid (2611) – Meier, Georg (2647)Heroes of this opening Nakamura, Hi · Morozevich, A. · Ivanchuk, Vassily · Tregubov, P.
- Family
- French Defense
- Category
- Semi-Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C00
- Line
- 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
French Defense: Pelikan Variation2…d5 3.f4French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Duras Variation2…d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 …
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
Paris challenged London by correspondence in January 1834; the match took about two years, Paris met 1.e4 with 1...e6, and Paris won. The defence has carried the name ever since. Botvinnik and Korchnoi built careers on its cramped-then-counterpunch character: concede space, then break with ...c5 or ...f6 at the right moment.
Study this opening