Exchange Variation

The Exchange Variation releases the central tension at once with 3. exd5. After the almost automatic 3...exd5 the pawn structure is symmetrical, both sides have a half-open e-file, and the chronic French problem disappears because the c8-bishop now has an open diagonal. The line is therefore reputed to give Black equality without effort. White usually chooses it to sidestep the closed, theory-heavy positions of 3. Nc3, 3. Nd2 and 3. e5, and sometimes simply to steer toward a draw. On Lichess the results are nearly identical for both colors, and the engine considers the position roughly balanced.

The symmetry does not force a draw, and a White player angling for one can be outplayed. In the quiet setups White develops with Nf3, Bd3 and Bg5 to pin the f6-knight, with the queen's knight on c3 and the queen on d2. Alternatively the knight goes to d2, with c3 and possibly Qb3, or a knight on c3 is paired with Ne2 and f3 to keep Black's pieces off e4 and g4. Black can mirror any of these. Castling on opposite wings is one way to unbalance the game, as in 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. O-O Nge7 8. Re1 Qd7 9. Nbd2 O-O-O. If White is passive, Black can take the initiative with ...c5, as Korchnoi did against Tatai in 1978 after 4. Bd3 c5.

White's main attempt to create winning chances is c2-c4, attacking d5. Black may answer by capturing on c4 and leaving White an isolated queen's pawn, at the cost of freer play for White's pieces. The immediate 4. c4 is the Monte Carlo Variation, the most common named branch, adopted by Normunds Miezis and Maurice Ashley. The same idea can come later, as in 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. c4, which may transpose to the Petroff. The Bogoljubow Variation, 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bg5 Nc6, keeps the symmetrical development. The Svenonius Variation reaches an Exchange structure from the Classical move order 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bg5. In the Winawer, 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 lets White argue that the b4-bishop is misplaced.

The alternative recaptures 3...Qxd5 and 3...Nf6 are rare, and White scores noticeably better against both. Until the middle of the 19th century the Exchange was treated as the principal line of the French, and Howard Staunton recommended it. It lost ground once 3. Nc3, 3. Nd2 and 3. e5 came into fashion in the 1860s and 1870s. Garry Kasparov tried it briefly in the early 1990s before switching to 3. Nc3, and Capablanca and Maróczy drew in 21 moves of symmetrical play at Lake Hopatcong in 1926.