About this opening
French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, Grigoriev Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code C12. ECO group C (C00–C99)
covers open games (1.e4 e5) and the French Defence, including the Ruy Lopez, Italian, Scotch and King's Gambit. This particular variation is reached
after 17 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. e5 h6 6. exf6 hxg5 7. fxg7 Rg8 8. h4 gxh4 9. Qg4.
It belongs to the French Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the McCutcheon Variation → Grigoriev Variation line). The immediate parent line is French Defense: McCutcheon Variation, transitioned via 9.Qg4.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.Nc3 Nf6, 4.Bg5 Bb4, 5.e5 h6, 6.exf6 hxg5. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of C12 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.