Grünfeld Defence
Opening course for Black · ECO D70-D99
Hand over the centre, then take it apart.
Black lets White build a big pawn centre and then shoots at it. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 White usually takes on d5 and follows with e4, and what stands on the board is a pair of white pawns on d4 and e4 against a bishop on g7, a pawn coming to c5 and a knight heading for c6. Nothing is symmetrical, so neither side gets a quiet afternoon. That cuts both ways: this is the sharpest sound answer to 1.d4, and its main lines have been analysed all the way into the endgame. The course teaches the club version, which keeps the structures and skips the memory contests.
- Chapters
- 3
- Lines
- 16
- Traps
- 1
- Sources
- 8
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: The classical build-up, against 7.Bc4 with Ne2.
Part of your daily work.
- Learn
- Walk the line with the coach, a note on the moves that need one.
- Recall
- Play it from memory. Learned lines come back on a schedule.
- Tempo
- The same line against the clock, for a score to beat.
- Off book
- The opponent leaves the book with a real move; Stockfish prices your answers.
Before the moves: the big ideas
The centre is a target, not a wall
White's pawns on d4 and e4 look imposing and they are also what every black piece is pointed at. The bishop on g7 looks down the long diagonal at d4 and c3, a pawn comes to c5, a knight comes to c6, and the queen often lands on a5 to lean on c3. Black is not defending against the centre. Black is asking White to keep it.
...c5 is the lever
Almost every line here runs through ...c5. It hits d4 a second time, it opens the c-file, and if White ever takes on c5 the d4-pawn leaves the board with it. Against the quiet build-ups with Bf4 and Rc1 the break comes early, and the queenside pieces come out behind it rather than before it.
Pin whatever defends d4
When White plays Nf3 that knight becomes the main defender of the d4-pawn, and ...Bg4 pins it to the queen. This is why so many of these lines end with White pushing d4-d5: the pawn runs instead of being taken. The push buys space and gives up the tension, and Black gets a fixed target to work against instead of a mobile one.
After d4-d5, blockade with a plan
A pawn on d5 cramps Black and would like to run further, so something has to stand in front of it. The knight route ...Nc6-a5-b7-d6 does that job, and so does the queen on d6 when the point is to prepare ...f5. Take queenside space with ...a6 and ...b5 first, though: a blockade with no way to make progress behind it leaves Black solid and stuck.
The lines, chapter by chapter
In learning order. The coach serves review one line a day; open any line yourself when you want it now.
White Takes on d5
6 lines
The Exchange Variation is the main event and the reason the opening exists. White captures on d5, Black recaptures with the knight, and after 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 White has the pawn centre and Black has the bishop on g7 pointed straight at it. Everything here is the same argument told four ways, split by where White puts the queen's bishop.
White Holds the Centre
8 lines
If White does not take on d5 the pawn stays there, and the game is about whether Black can ever get in ...c5 on good terms. The Russian System asks the question hardest by hitting d5 with the queen. The rest of this chapter is the quieter half of White's shelf: a bishop to f4 or g5, a pawn to e3, and a check on a4.
White Refuses the Grünfeld
2 lines
Two ways to stop the opening before it starts, both popular exactly because the main lines have been analysed into the ground. White plays f2-f3 or g2-g3 on move three, and the knight trade on c3 that defines the Grünfeld never happens.
Puzzles from this opening
The Grünfeld Defence in brief
The Grünfeld Defence is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6, and it is filed under ECO D70-D99. This course teaches it from Black's side in 16 drills across 3 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
- The classical build-up against 7.Bc4 with Ne2
- Pin the defender against 7.Nf3
- The bishop that forgot d4 against 7.Bg5
- The modern prop against 7.Be3
- Refusing the doubled pawn against 5.Bd2
- The knight on the rim against 5.Na4, the Nadanian
- The Smyslov regroup against 5.Qb3, the Russian System
- Take the queenside instead against 5.Qb3 with 7.Bf4
- The check with a purpose against 5.Qa4+
- Hit the pawn that took against 4.Bf4
- Jump before the pin against 4.Bg5, the Stockholm
- Trade the bishop off against 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5
- The pawn grab that loses a piece against 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.Nxd5
- Against the small centre against 4.e3, the quiet system
- Hit the middle twice against 3.f3, the Sämisch anti-Grünfeld
- Meet the fianchetto with a knight against 3.g3, the Neo-Grünfeld
Theory credited to
- Opening Repertoire: The Grünfeld DefenceGM Nigel Davies
- The Safest Grünfeld ReloadedGM Alexander Delchev
- Playing the GrünfeldAlexey Kovalchuk
- The Modernized Grünfeld DefenseGM Yaroslav Zherebukh
- Grandmaster Repertoire 2A: King's Indian and GrünfeldGM Boris Avrukh
- Wikipedia: Grünfeld Defence
- lichess-org/chess-openings
- 365Chess opening explorer
4 branches are deliberately not drilled here, and the course records which and why rather than leaving the gap silent.
Questions
- What is the Grünfeld Defence?
- The Grünfeld Defence is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6, filed under ECO D70-D99. Hand over the centre, then take it apart. Black lets White build a big pawn centre and then shoots at it.
- How do you learn the Grünfeld Defence?
- This course splits it into 16 drills across 3 chapters. You play each line from Black's side against a coach note that explains the move, then the same lines come back on a spaced-repetition schedule until you can play them without prompting. Every position is verified with Stockfish at depth 20 before it ships.
- What does White play against the Grünfeld Defence?
- The course answers every major reply: Nc3, Nf3, f3, g3. Each one has its own drill or a documented transposition into another, and the branches that are not drilled are listed with the reason.
- Where does the theory in this Grünfeld Defence course come from?
- From published work by GM Nigel Davies, GM Alexander Delchev, Alexey Kovalchuk, GM Yaroslav Zherebukh and the reference sources credited on this page. The engine verifies the moves; the plans and assessments belong to the authors, and every drill records the page or section it came from.