French Defense: Paulsen Variation
C10 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3
Black scores 49.2% here across 783 club games — but the 10.3% who answer c5 score 45.7%, 4 points worse.
What Black actually plays here
Across 783 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 49.2% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | Black scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nf6 | 247 | 31.5% | 49.0% | holds up |
| Bb4 | 216 | 27.6% | 50.5% | holds up |
| dxe4 | 176 | 22.5% | 50.9% | holds up |
| c5 | 81 | 10.3% | 45.7% | below the line |
| c6 | 43 | 5.5% | 48.8% | holds up |
"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.