French Defense: Advance Variation
C02 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6
Black scores 57.2% here across 1,757 club games — but the 5.5% who answer Nc6 score 29.9%, 27 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 1,757 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 57.2% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| c5 | 1,397 | 79.5% | 62.1% | holds up |
| Nc6 | 97 | 5.5% | 29.9% | below the line |
| a6 | 58 | 3.3% | 56.0% | holds up |
| Ne7 | 50 | 2.8% | 45.0% | below the line |
| f6 | 50 | 2.8% | 33.0% | below the line |
| c6 | 26 | 1.5% | 26.9% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.