About this opening
French Defense: Classical Variation, Stahlberg Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code C14. ECO group C (C00–C99)
covers open games (1.e4 e5) and the French Defence, including the Ruy Lopez, Italian, Scotch and King's Gambit. This particular variation is reached
after 20 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 O-O 8. Nf3 c5 9. Qd2 Nc6 10. O-O-O c4.
It belongs to the French Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Classical Variation → Stahlberg Variation line). The immediate parent line is French Defense: Classical Variation, transitioned via 10…c4.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.Nc3 Nf6, 4.Bg5 Be7, 5.e5 Nfd7, 6.Bxe7 Qxe7. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of C14 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.