[Event "French Defence - McCutcheon Variation: McCutcheon Variation: Introduction"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/ZkaQEUd4/fySwnDB0"] [Result "*"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C12"] [Opening "French Defense: MacCutcheon Variation, Bernstein Variation"] [Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/chessentialsBLOG"] [UTCDate "2023.02.10"] [UTCTime "11:43:29"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/ZkaQEUd4/fySwnDB0"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 { The idea is simple - White is violating the principle of developing the knights before the bishops in order to put pressure on the knight on f6 and - consequently - the central pan on d5. -- According to my database, this is the most popular move in this position and is definitely one that any 3...Nf6 French Defence player has to prepare for. } 4... Bb4 { This sharp move, pinning the knight on c3 and ignoring the threat to the f6 knight, leads to the so-called McCutcheon variation. The general idea is to employ this "Winawer-like" move to create typical doubled c-pawns by taking on c3. At first glance, it seems as if e5 wins for White on the spot, but Black is ready to meet it with h6 and g5. } { [%cal Ge4e5,Gh7h6] } 5. e5 h6 { And here it transpires White can't really win a piece. as the bishop can't maintain the pin. } 6. Bh4 (6. exf6 hxg5 7. fxg7 { Is, instead, a possible variation, but as we will see later in this study - it is relatively harmless for Black. }) 6... g5 *