French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Wolf Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 Nf6 5. Bg5
The French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Wolf Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C15, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 Nf6 5. Bg5. 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 34 times by this move order. White won 56%, 9% were drawn and Black won 35%. The most popular continuation is 5… h6 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 5… dxe4 6. a3 Be7 7. Bxf6 gxf6 8. Nxe4)
- ECO
- C15
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p2B1/1b1PP3/2N5/PPP1NPPP/R2QKB1R b KQkq - 5 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2 Nf6 5. Bg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 10 | |
| 2000+ | 24 | |
| All | 34 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… h6 | 16 (47%) | |
| 5… dxe4 | 16 (47%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 1 (3%) | |
| 5… c5 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
106 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 26%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Daniil Dubov (2708) – GM Andrey Rychagov (2547) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-RUS Premier 2023 · 2023-05-05
- GM Chongsheng Zeng (2574) – GM Maxime Lagarde (2622) 1/2-1/2 · Ljubljana Open 2025 · 2025-05-03
- IM Gabor Nagy (2446) – GM Richard Rapport (2698) 0-1 · 36th Zalakaros Open 2017 · 2017-05-23
- GM Zoran Jovanovic (2517) – GM Alexander Rustemov (2525) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 22nd Dec · 2020-12-22
- GM Christopher Woojin Yoo (2588) – IM Matvey Galchenko (2442) 1-0 · Titled Tue 8th Apr Late · 2025-04-08
Search all games of the French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Wolf Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- nabil-doghri-1964 (2489) – cad2024 (2470) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- IM walaasarwat (2408) – Afobazol (2425) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- Mr_cha (2308) – tanqueta (2413) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Winawer Variation, Alekhine-Maróczy Gambit 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Ne2
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.