French Defense: Normal Variation
C00 1. e4 e6 2. d4
Black scores 48.5% here across 5,392 club games — but the 9.5% who answer c5 score 44.2%, 4 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 5,392 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 48.5% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| d5 | 3,324 | 61.6% | 54.2% | holds up |
| c5 | 510 | 9.5% | 44.2% | below the line |
| d6 | 349 | 6.5% | 36.0% | below the line |
| b6 | 274 | 5.1% | 42.0% | below the line |
| c6 | 157 | 2.9% | 46.2% | holds up |
| Nf6 | 144 | 2.7% | 36.1% | below the line |
| Ne7 | 140 | 2.6% | 51.4% | holds up |
| Nc6 | 96 | 1.8% | 31.8% | below the line |
| Qh4 | 86 | 1.6% | 23.3% | below the line |
| Be7 | 76 | 1.4% | 36.2% | below the line |
| g6 | 49 | 0.9% | 24.5% | below the line |
| Bb4+ | 48 | 0.9% | 35.4% | 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.