How to Play the French Defense: Paulsen Variation c5 as White

By trading 4.exd5, you are inviting Black to recapture and create an imbalanced centre. The resulting pawn structure heavily favours you. If Black plays the best move 4...exd5 (which happens in 85% of games), you get a semi-open position where your space advantage and piece activity matter more than the isolated d4-pawn you'll soon have. Your light-squared bishop is free, your kingside can develop quickly, and Black's light-squared bishop is still locked behind the e6-pawn. The engine's +1.09 evaluation reflects that you have a comfortable, lasting initiative. Your job is simple: keep the centre fluid, develop with tempo, and don't let Black equalise with ...cxd4 followed by ...Nc6 and ...Bc5.

The most-played and best move for Black is 4...exd5 (480,084 games). After that, the engine's recommended continuation is 5.dxc5 Bxc5 6.Qxd5. You recapture on c5 with your d-pawn, threatening the bishop on c8 and the d5-pawn at the same time. Black's bishop on c5 is loose, and after 6.Qxd5 you have a pawn up with active queen play. Black has some compensation — the half-open e-file, your queen in the centre — but you are the one pressing. Statistically, White scores 57.1% from this line. The concrete challenge is to develop your kingside quickly and castle before Black can generate real threats against your queen. Don't be afraid of ...Be6 hitting your queen; retreat to d2 or d3 and keep your structure solid.

Black has several bad alternatives here, and knowing them means you will convert more points. The most common bad move is 4...cxd4 (72,961 games, White scores 59.8%). The engine calls this an inaccuracy, losing about 0.7 pawns. After 5.Qxd4, you are up a pawn with the d4-square occupied by your queen, and Black's queen is vulnerable to ...Nc6 with tempo. Even worse is 4...Nc6 — a proper mistake costing Black roughly 3.0 pawns. Play 5.dxc5 and Black can't recapture safely; you target the d5-pawn. The outright blunder is 4...Qxd5 (losing about 5.4 pawns). Simply 5.Nxd5 and Black has given up a queen for nothing. Keep an eye out for these. If Black plays any of them, the advantage swings from 'clear' to 'decisive.'

The raw numbers from 562,093 games are striking. White wins 57.6% of the time, Black wins 38.6%, and draws are rare at 3.8%. That low draw rate tells you this is a fighting opening — Black rarely escapes into a simplified endgame. Even when Black plays the best move 4...exd5, White still scores 57.1%. The second-best reply 4...cxd4 actually gives White an even higher score of 59.8%, because although it's less punishing positionally, club players handle the resulting positions less accurately. If you are looking for an opening where the engine says you are clearly better and the practical results match that evaluation, this variation is an excellent choice for your White repertoire.