About this opening
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation, Main Line is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code C18. 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 19 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. Qg4 Qc7 8. Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 cxd4 10. Ne2.
It belongs to the French Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-3 branch (the Winawer Variation → Poisoned Pawn Variation → Main Line line). The immediate parent line is French Defense: Winawer Variation, Poisoned Pawn Variation, transitioned via 10.Ne2.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.Nc3 Bb4, 4.e5 c5, 5.a3 Bxc3+, 6.bxc3 Ne7. 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 C18 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.