Openings › French Defense
Results by level
French: Win Rate by Lichess Rating
French Defense · 1.e4 e6 · CC0 name list
At 1500–1799 (Lichess rating), Black scored 50.3% in 100,536 French Defense games (±0.3; games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026).
Black won 48.4% of them, White won 47.9%, and 3.7% were drawn.
No clear difference from 50% at this level (inside the margin)
In games from Oct 2025–Sep 2026, Black scored 50.3% (±0.3) with the French Defense in sampled Lichess games at the 1500–1799 Lichess rating level (100,536 games). Observed results, not causation.
Data period: games from 1 Oct 2025 – 30 Sep 2026 (sample of the Lichess open database) · Page updated: 9 Oct 2026
50.3%
Black's score at Lichess rating 1500–1799 · 100,536 games, Oct 2025–Sep 2026 sample
Black scores 50.3% at 1500–1799 and 48.3% at 2100+.
At a glance
- In this sample, White's score ranged from 49.7% (1200–1499) to 51.7% (2100+).
- Treat this spread with caution: the margins are approximate (see How it works).
- It appeared most often in the 1800–2099 group (6.7% of that group's games).
- Draws were most common in the 2100+ group (5.4%).
These are observed results for the selected games (rated, players within 200 rating points of each other). They describe what happened — they do not prove the opening caused the result.
Results by Lichess rating level
Each row shows how the French Defense games at one rating level ended: White wins, draws and Black wins, across all time controls combined. Rating level is the average Lichess rating of both players.
White won drawn Black won. French Defense — results by Lichess rating level, all time controls combined (minimum 300 games per row).
"White's score" = wins + half of draws. "±" is an approximate 95% margin based only on the number of games. It does not cover sampling bias or related games (the same players appear many times), so real uncertainty is larger. "How common" = share of all sampled games at that level that reached this position. Ratings are Lichess ratings; they are not interchangeable with Chess.com or FIDE ratings.
Compare it with another choice from the same position, at the Lichess level and time control you choose: Compare in Find Your Opening (the comparison needs JavaScript)
Results by time control
Each row shows how the French Defense games ended in one Lichess time control, across all rating levels combined.
| Time control | Games | White wins | Draws | Black wins | White's score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullet | 124,493 | 48.5% | 2.9% | 48.6% | 50.0% |
| Blitz | 161,112 | 48.1% | 4.5% | 47.4% | 50.4% |
| Rapid | 49,899 | 47.9% | 4.7% | 47.4% | 50.2% |
| Classical | 1,747 | 48.4% | 5.2% | 46.4% | 51.0% |
This table and the rating rows are separate summaries: rating levels are not split by time control here, and time controls are not split by rating. Observed results only; approximate uncertainty applies as above.
Most played replies for White at each level
Top replies with at least 150 games. "Score" is White's score after that reply (wins + half of draws). These comparisons alone can't show that one reply is reliably better — the margins are approximate and stronger or weaker players may prefer different replies.
| Rating level | Reply · share · games · score |
|---|---|
| Under 1200 |
2.Nf3 ·37.1% · 13,884 · 50.5% ±0.8 2.d4 ·29.1% · 10,894 · 51.9% ±0.9 2.Nc3 ·7.7% · 2,899 · 49.8% ±1.8 |
| 1200–1499 |
2.Nf3 ·35.8% · 24,691 · 49.8% ±0.6 2.d4 ·35.1% · 24,191 · 50.0% ±0.6 2.Nc3 ·7.2% · 4,992 · 51.4% ±1.4 |
| 1500–1799 |
2.d4 ·40.8% · 41,014 · 50.1% ±0.5 2.Nf3 ·31.0% · 31,124 · 49.5% ±0.5 2.Nc3 ·7.5% · 7,508 · 49.5% ±1.1 |
| 1800–2099 |
2.d4 ·48.6% · 42,983 · 50.4% ±0.5 2.Nf3 ·24.4% · 21,570 · 50.3% ±0.7 2.Nc3 ·8.7% · 7,676 · 50.0% ±1.1 |
| 2100+ |
2.d4 ·54.7% · 22,714 · 51.6% ±0.6 2.Nf3 ·18.3% · 7,579 · 52.6% ±1.1 2.Nc3 ·11.9% · 4,951 · 51.7% ±1.4 |
Up next: related positions with a page
- Deeper line: French Defense 2.d4 1.e4 e6 2.d4
- Deeper line: French Knight Variation 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3
- Related line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation)
- Related line: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 (Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation)
- Related line: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian)
| Opening | Lichess rating level | Games | Black's score |
|---|---|---|---|
| vs Sicilian Defense 1.e4 c5 | 1500–1799 | 157,898 | 49.5% ±0.2 |
| vs Scandinavian Defense 1.e4 d5 | 1500–1799 | 111,308 | 50.1% ±0.3 |
| vs Caro-Kann Defense 1.e4 c6 | 1500–1799 | 86,546 | 50.2% ±0.3 |
| vs Pirc Defense 1.e4 d6 | 1500–1799 | 38,376 | 49.1% ±0.5 |
| vs Modern Defense 1.e4 g6 | 1500–1799 | 36,516 | 49.1% ±0.5 |
| vs Owen Defense 1.e4 b6 | 1500–1799 | 23,435 | 48.6% ±0.6 |
Each row is a separate page with its own games. A difference smaller than the two margins combined is no clear difference. Observed results, not causation.
Deeper positions with this name
The free opening list gives the name French Defense to 1 deeper position on this line as well. This page counts the first one; games in the 12-month sample that reached each deeper one:
- 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5: 111,102 games
French Defense in official Lichess broadcasts: 114 games across the 10 events of the Weekly chess roundup, 19–25 Oct 2026 (Lichess official broadcasts, CC BY-SA 4.0).
Download these numbers: French Defense (CSV), released under CC0. For move-by-move exploration with your own filters, see the free Lichess opening explorer. This independent page lists each rating level and each time control in its own row for comparison.
- Mate in one from games that began with the French Defense: White to move (exercise m1-806a639d98), from a Lichess game of Jul 2026
- Insight pages whose tables include the French Defense: Most played openings · Score changes from Under 1200 to 2100+ · Most drawish openings
- How the numbers on this page are made: How it works