French Defense: Paulsen Variation

Chess opening · ECO C10 · 5 half-moves

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3

♜♞♝♛♚♝♞♜♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♞♟♟♟♟♟♟♜♝♛♚♝♞♜

The French Defense: Paulsen Variation is reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3. It is Black's move in the position shown.

It branches from the French Defense: Normal Variation with 2… d5 3. Nc3.

How often it is played

The French Defense: Paulsen Variation and its variations appeared in 0.65% of games — 19,621 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 73 of the openings listed here.

Results

White won 50%, 4.4% were drawn and Black won 46%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.

What the engine thinks

Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.38 — a small edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.

Similar openings

The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.

Opening	Moves	Share of games
French Defense: Exchange Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5`	1.3%
French Defense: Advance Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5`	0.95%
French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 c5`	0.21%

Main continuations

Variation	Moves	Share of games
French Defense: Classical Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6`	0.25%
French Defense: Rubinstein Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4`	0.16%
French Defense: Winawer Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4`	0.10%
French Defense: Marshall Gambit	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c5`	0.06%
French Defense: Steinitz Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 a6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nfd7`	0.02%
French Defense: Hecht-Reefschläger Variation	`1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nc6`	0.02%

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