French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Dr. Olland Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bc1
The French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Dr. Olland Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C12, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bc1. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 28 times by this move order. White won 57%, 11% were drawn and Black won 32%. The most popular continuation is 6… Ne4 (75% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.37 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 6… Ne4 7. Qg4 Kf8 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3)
- ECO
- C12
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2pp1/4pn1p/3pP3/1b1P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bc1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 28 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Ne4 | 21 (75%) | |
| 6… Bxc3+ | 6 (21%) | |
| 6… Nfd7 | 1 (4%) |
Master games
393 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 25%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-03
- Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-08-03
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2601) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 24th Jun Early · 2025-06-24
- GM Jules Moussard (2600) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2729) 0-1 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 13th Nov 2025 · 2025-11-13
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2671) – GM David Anton Guijarro (2627) 1-0 · Lake Sevan 2016 · 2016-07-25
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Lucasran (2525) – asterixyfelix2008 (2583) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- rid21 (2458) – FM sezur (2550) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- FM Lucasran (2536) – ferkov21 (2385) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Advance Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.