French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Exchange Variation
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. exd5
The French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C12, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. exd5. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 46 times by this move order. White won 41%, 7% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 5… Qxd5 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5… Qxd5 6. Bxf6 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 gxf6 8. Qd2)
- ECO
- C12
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3P2B1/1b1P4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R2QKBNR b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. exd5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 39 | |
| All | 46 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Qxd5 | 21 (46%) | |
| 5… exd5 | 21 (46%) | |
| 5… Bxc3+ | 4 (9%) |
Master games
214 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 31%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2751) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2749) 1/2-1/2 · 11th Sinquefield Cup · 2024-08-28
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2734) – GM Levon Aronian (2729) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 6th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-06
- GM Yifan Hou (2652) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2710) 1/2-1/2 · Moscow Grand Prix 2017 · 2017-05-20
- GM Yangyi Yu (2714) – IM Renato Terry (2522) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2023 · 2023-12-29
- GM Jan Smeets (2617) – GM Rainer Buhmann (2612) 1/2-1/2 · Bundesliga 2015-16 · 2016-04-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ex-champion (2526) – Mokaboka (2477) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- IM BadAsMe (2489) – olegP_BY (2438) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- GrandeGila (2515) – swiftton (2404) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4
Continuations
- French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Bogoljubow Variation C12 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. Bxf6 gxf6 7. Qd2 Qa5
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.