French Defense: Exchange Variation
C01 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nc3
Black scores 55.2% here across 859 club games — but the 3.3% who answer c5 score 39.3%, 16 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 859 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 55.2% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nf6 | 493 | 57.4% | 56.6% | holds up |
| Bd6 | 131 | 15.3% | 58.4% | holds up |
| Bg4 | 86 | 10.0% | 58.7% | holds up |
| Nc6 | 40 | 4.7% | 52.5% | holds up |
| h6 | 30 | 3.5% | 60.0% | holds up |
| c5 | 28 | 3.3% | 39.3% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.