English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5
The English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A16, reached after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5. It is a line of the English Opening. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,667 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3. cxd5 (72% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.26 (Stockfish, depth 57; best line 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 c5 5. d4 Nxc3)
- ECO
- A16
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/2P5/2N5/PP1PPPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 366 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,481 | |
| 2000+ | 820 | |
| All | 2,667 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. cxd5 | 1,922 (72%) | |
| 3. d4 | 254 (10%) | |
| 3. e3 | 190 (7%) | |
| 3. g3 | 94 (4%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 66 (2%) | |
| 3. d3 | 48 (2%) | |
| 3. e4 | 31 (1%) | |
| 3. b3 | 20 (1%) |
Master games
1,243 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 23%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2724) – GM Li Chao2 (2732) 1-0 · China vs World Team 2018 · 2018-04-09
- GM Pavel Eljanov (2707) – GM Alexander Areshchenko (2708) 1/2-1/2 · Sberbank GM Rapid · 2013-06-05
- GM Richard Rapport (2692) – GM Li Chao2 (2720) 1/2-1/2 · Sharjah Grand Prix 2017 · 2017-02-27
- GM Xiangzhi Bu (2698) – GM Li Chao2 (2672) 0-1 · Yinzhou Cup Men 2022 · 2022-12-26
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2733) – GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2625) 1/2-1/2 · 10th Edmonton GM 2015 · 2015-06-20
Search all games of the English Opening: Anglo-Grünfeld Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- slouuurps (2758) – urajimiru (2519) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Brokeno_smekla (2715) – Mohikanac (2530) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- IM LittleOyster (2597) – XuBofang (2579) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Queen's Knight Variation 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3
Continuations
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (3… Nxd5 4. Nf3) A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (5. Bg2 Nb6) A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Nb6
- English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Anglo-Grünfeld Variation (5. Bg2 Nxc3) A16 · 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Nxc3
More English Opening lines (all)
- English Opening A10
- English Opening: Achilles-Omega Gambit A10
- English Opening: Adorjan Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense, Hickmann Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Chabanon Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Variation, Ferenc Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Lithuanian Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Löhn Gambit A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Malvinas Variation A10
- English Opening: Anglo-Scandinavian Defense, Schulz Gambit A10
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.