French Defense: Paulsen Variation with 4.Bg5 – Playing as White

After 4.Bg5, White has developed a bishop to an active square, pinning the f6-knight to the black queen. This is the central idea of the Paulsen Variation: you are not just developing—you are creating immediate tension. The position is still early, but the pin makes it awkward for Black to play …dxe4, because after Nxe4 the knight on f6 would be recapturing while pinned. As the statistics show, the resulting tabiya is very balanced. Across nearly 850,000 games from this exact spot, White wins 49.9% and Black 46.2%, with a tiny 3.9% draw rate. That tells you this is a fighting opening where small inaccuracies decide the game.

Stockfish evaluates this position at +0.42, a small edge for White. That means you are slightly better here—nothing crushing, but a real plus to work with. The engine's recommended move for Black is dxe4, continuing with Nxe4 Nbd7 Nxf6+. After the knight trade, Black's remaining knight goes to d7, and you have a solid, harmonious position. Even though this is Black's best line, White's score still hovers near 47%, meaning the fight is on. As White, you should be comfortable in these simplified pawn structures and look for small advantages in development and space.

In practice, Black rarely finds the best move. The most common reply by a huge margin is Be7 (464,849 games), where White scores 49.3%. This natural developing move allows you to keep the pin in place and continue developing—castling short and building a centre is a fine approach. Next up is dxe4 (166,194 games) at 47.1% for White, and h6 (106,937 games) where White jumps to 51.1%—chasing the bishop often costs Black time. Bb4 (65,802 games) scores 51.5% for White, another solid result. The two replies you want to see are c6 and c5, both flagged as inaccuracies that lose significant ground.

The statistics reveal two common Black mistakes that you, as White, should be ready to exploit. c6 is an inaccuracy that loses roughly 1.0 pawns in evaluation; the engine says Black should have played dxe4 instead. After c6, you have a comfortable advantage. c5 is similarly an inaccuracy, costing about 0.8 pawns, and the better alternative was h6. Black plays these moves to challenge your centre, but they come at a cost. When you see either c6 or c5, stay alert—your position is already improved, and you can proceed confidently knowing you've already gained ground. The drill below will train you to respond correctly to whatever Black throws at you.