Grunfeld Defense

Does anyone out there play the Grunfeld? I am trying to take up this defense and I am curious what variations are seen the most often in a amateur play.

I play the Grunfeld. Expect to see both critical variations of the Exchange Variation the most, either:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Rb1! or

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Be3 Nc6 9. Ne2

That said, you should also be familiar with:

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3

There are quite a few other variations, but those are the four you'll see the most in my experience. It's a great defense, good luck! Feel free to ask any more questions, and I'll see what I can do to answer them.

Thanks again Tony, you have been very helpful. As you may have guessed I am reworking my opening repertoire to be a little more aggressive, I have spent the last year changing my chess from having sort of a boring defense and endgames focus to a more aggressive attacking focus, but I still have many of my old openings. I went out and got "Understanding the Grunfeld" which looks pretty promising, I am sure I will be back with more questions.

You might also want to look at

1.d4 Nf6
2.Nf3 g6
3.Nc3 d5
4.Bf4

That's the Barry Attack vs Grunfeld.

Originally posted by Eladar
You might also want to look at

1.d4 Nf6
2.Nf3 g6
3.Nc3 d5
4.Bf4

That's the Barry Attack vs Grunfeld.

Very rarely will you see the Barry Attack, and it doesn't take a whole lot to figure out good moves over the board anyway.

Understanding the Grunfeld is a great book. I would also recommend the much newer Play the Grunfeld by Yelena Dembo. It's a repertoire book, and it's much more recent, well written, and pretty thorough.

I'm glad I play an opening that is rarely seen and believed to be inferior. The less time people prepare for it, the better off I'll be. 😉

Originally posted by Eladar
I'm glad I play an opening that is rarely seen and believed to be inferior. The less time people prepare for it, the better off I'll be. 😉

Not believed to be inferior. It is inferior. 😀

Originally posted by chrspayn
Thanks again Tony, you have been very helpful. As you may have guessed I am reworking my opening repertoire to be a little more aggressive, I have spent the last year changing my chess from having sort of a boring defense and endgames focus to a more aggressive attacking focus, but I still have many of my old openings. I went out and got "Understanding the Grunfeld" which looks pretty promising, I am sure I will be back with more questions.

I play against the Grunfeld as white, so if you want I'd me more than happy to play some practice games on here with you.

Don't worry Eladar, I intend to study all the junk options as well