French Defense:Advance Variation

Championed by Aron Nimzowitsch. White gains space with 3. e5 and Black strikes back at the chain with ...c5.

It is reached after 5 moves: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5. It is a line of the French Defense.

Black is to move and has 32 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,224,895 different games. Those games reach 384,439 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.2 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 21 further lines after this position, such as Extended Bishop Swap (3... Bd7).

The same moves can be played in 6 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. e5, which starts as the Queen's Pawn Game.