Opening of the week · from Thursday 22 October 2026
French Defence
ECO C00–C19 · 1.e4 e6
Solid and strategic. Black accepts a slightly cramped position and a passive light-squared bishop in return for a rock-solid structure and clear pawn-break plans with …c5 and …f6.
In the grandmasters' games
- 7,043
- games, 5.0% of 141,486 · White scores 58%
- 3,921
- games, 4.4% of 89,722 · White scores 56%
In the repertoire of 76 of the grandmasters on ChessRanger, among them Bobby Fischer, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura. The counts are from their games, as on the Grandmasters pages.
Make it yours this week
Last week: Queen's Gambit Declined. Next week: Nimzo-Indian Defence. A new opening every Thursday, from the twenty grandmasters play most.