Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e6/2. d4/2...d5/3. Nc3/3...Nf6/4. Bg5/4...Bb4
The McCutcheon variation first became well-known as the result of an 1885 simultaneous exhibition game played in New York by World Champion Steinitz as White against John Lindsay McCutcheon, a lawyer from Pennsylvania. McCutcheon won convincingly in just 28 moves, and thus brought attention to the variation. It is still (2013) considered to be a completely sound defense for Black. There is no record of a previous game with this variation, so it is possible (though impossible to prove) that McCutcheon created a true novelty.
| McCutcheon variation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moves: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
