Tree path 9 levels French Defense › Normal Variation › French Defense › Paulsen Variation › French Defense: Classical Variation › French Defense: Classical Variation › French Defense: McCutcheon Variation › Advance Variation › French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation
- Chess Codex
- French Defense C00
- Normal Variation C00
- French Defense C00
- Paulsen Variation C10
- French Defense: Classical Variation C11
- French Defense: Classical Variation C11
- French Defense: McCutcheon Variation C12
- Advance Variation C12
- French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation C12 you are here
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation
Overview
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Chigorin Variation is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C12.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
The line arises from 11 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. exf6.
It is a variation of French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Advance Variation, which itself descends from the root opening French Defense.
It continues primarily into one named line, French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Grigoriev Variation.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- C12
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 11
- Direct variations
- 1
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
132,020 games · White 42.1% / Draw 5.8% / Black 52.1%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| hxg5 | 129,591 | |
| gxf6 | 1,254 | |
| Bxc3+ | 1,077 | |
| h5 | 85 | |
| g6 | 7 | |
| Qxf6 | 4 | |
| Rh7 | 1 | |
| Rg8 | 1 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:27:23
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