French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Duras Variation
1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Bc1
The French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Duras Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C12, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Bc1. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.11 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9… c5 10. Bd3 Nxc3 11. dxc5 Qa5 12. Bd2)
- ECO
- C12
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
rnbq1k1r/ppp2pp1/4p2p/3pP3/3Pn1Q1/2P5/P1P2PPP/R1B1KBNR b KQ - 4 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Bc1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Comes from
French Defense: Queen's Knight 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3
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.