French Defense:McCutcheon Variation

Named after the American amateur John McCutcheon. Black answers White’s pin with a counter-pin, 4...Bb4.

It is reached after 8 moves: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4. It is a line of the French Defense.

White is to move and has 38 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,739,105 different games. Those games reach 572,026 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 12 further lines after this position, such as Advance Variation (5. e5) and Exchange Variation (5. exd5).

The same moves can be played in 138 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. d4 e6 2. e4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4, which starts as the Queen's Pawn Game.