French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Lasker Variation (8. Qg4 g6)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6
The French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Lasker 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. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 50 times by this move order. White won 54%, 6% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 9. Bd3 (84% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9. h4 c5 10. Bd3 Nxd2 11. Kxd2 Nc6)
- ECO
- C12
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2p2/4p1pp/3pP3/3Pn1Q1/2P5/P1PB1PPP/R3KBNR w KQkq - 0 9- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 48 | |
| All | 50 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. Bd3 | 42 (84%) | |
| 9. h4 | 4 (8%) | |
| 9. Bc1 | 1 (2%) | |
| 9. Nf3 | 1 (2%) | |
| 9. Qf4 | 1 (2%) | |
| 9. f4 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
272 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 27%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) – LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-17
- LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-16
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2740) – IM Renato Terry (2508) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 2nd Dec 2025 · 2025-12-02
- GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2655) – GM Sankalp Gupta (2535) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-07
- GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (2567) – GM Avetik Grigoryan (2599) 1/2-1/2 · 73rd ch-ARM 2013 · 2013-01-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Olegator712 (2480) – OnePysy (2666) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 420 + 2s
- mahyar_modernchess (2595) – Plyasa1984 (2477) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- bojarin1982 (2604) – bkar68 (2412) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Lasker Variation (6. Bd2 Bxc3) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. Bd2 Bxc3
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.