Chesspedia, The Free Chess Encyclopedia

Gr�nfeld Defence

Chesspedia, the Free Chess Encyclopedia.

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The Gr�nfeld 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 Gr�nfeld, 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-Gr�nfeld 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).

Further reading