[Event "French Defence - Classical Variation - Introduction: Classical Variation - Normal Variation - 4.Bg5!?"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/WDCCWFLz/2kJz8pho"] [Result "*"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C11"] [Opening "French Defense: Burn Variation"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/chessentialsBLOG"] [UTCDate "2023.02.09"] [UTCTime "11:31:05"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/WDCCWFLz/2kJz8pho"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 { This leads to the so-called normal variation. White defends the pawn indirectly by pinning the knight on f6 and creating the threat of e5. Now Black has several possibilities at their disposal. } { [%cal Rg5d8] } 4... dxe4 { Taking the pawn is what I personally consider the best - it leads to the so-called Burn variation. } (4... Be7 { This natural move, defending the pin, is also quite possible. Here White has several options, but the most common is to go } 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 { Leading to the so-called Alekhine-Chatard Attack. }) (4... Bb4 { Even this pinning move is possible, leading to the very sharp McCutcheon variation. } 5. e5 h6 { And it turns out Black doesn't lose a piece here! }) (4... h6 { To be fair, Black can even consider playing this move, involving a pawn sacrifice and claiming they will get a lot of compensation for it. } 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. exd5 Bb4 { And here Black has some compensation due to the bishop pair - and play is very forced. This line seems more suitable/likely to appear on the master level and beyond. }) *