Grünfeld Defence
The
Grünfeld Defence is a
chess opening characterised by the moves (in
algebraic notation) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5.
It is named after
Ernst Grünfeld, the player who first employed the defence in the
1920s. The defence was later adopted by a number of prominent players, including
Vasily Smyslov,
Viktor Korchnoi and
Bobby Fischer.
Garry Kasparov has often used the defence, including in his
World Championship matches against
Anatoly Karpov in
1986,
1987 and
1990, and
Vladimir Kramnik in
2000. In more recent years it has been regularly employed by
Loek Van Wely,
Peter Svidler and
Luke McShane among others.
The opening relies on one of the main principles of the
hypermodern school, which was coming to the fore in the 1920s - that a large pawn centre could be a liability rather than an asset. This idea is seen most clearly in the Exchange Variation of the defence: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4. Now White has an imposing looking centre - and the main continuation 5...Nxc3 bxc3 strengthens it still further. Black generally attack's White's centre with ...c5 and ...Bg7, often followed by moves like ...cxd4, ...Bg4, and ...Nc6. White often uses his big centre to launch an attack against Black's king, which generally ends up on g8 after Black castles king-side.
White can develop his pieces a number of ways in the Exchange Variation. For decades, theory held that the only correct way for White to develop was with Bc4 and Ne2, often followed by 0-0 and f4-f5 with attack. It was generally thought that an early Nf3 was weak in the Exchange Variation because it allowed Black too much pressure on the centre with ...Bg4. Starting in the late 1970's, however, Kasparov and others found more accurate ways to play the Exchange Variation with White, often involving an early Rb1 to remove the rook from the long diagonal and make it hard for Black to develop his queen's bishop. Another relatively recently developed system involves quickly playing Be3, Qd2, and Rc1 or Rd1 to fortify White's centre, get White's rook off the diagonal, and possibly enable an early d5 push by White.
White can adopt a number of approaches other than the Exchange Variation. Among the more popular are 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 (known as the Russian System or Smyslov System), and various systems based on Bf4, Bg5 or g3 and Bg2. Systems in which White delays the development of his queen's knight to c3 are known as the
Neo-Grünfeld Defence.
The
game of the century between
Donald Byrne and 13-year old
Bobby Fischer on
1956-
10-17 started with this chess opening. However, that game arrived at this position through a different order than described above (using 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 O-O 5. Bf4 d5).
*
Alexey Suetin,
The Complete Grünfeld (Batsford,
1991)
*
Anatoly Karpov,
Beating the Grünfeld (Batsford,
1992)
*
Jonathan Rowson,
Understanding the Grünfeld (Gambit,
1998)
*
Nigel Davies,
The Grünfeld Defence (Everyman Chess,
2002)
*
10 Traps and Zaps in the Grünfeld Defense (ECO D80)
