Grünfeld Defense: Botvinnik Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 e6
The Grünfeld Defense: Botvinnik Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D95, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 e6. It is a line of the Grünfeld Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4 times by this move order. White won 75%, 0% were drawn and Black won 25%. The most popular continuation is 7. Bd3 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 7. Be2 b6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. O-O Bb7)
- ECO
- D95
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp2pbp/4pnp1/3p4/2PP4/1QN1PN2/PP3PPP/R1B1KB1R w KQ - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 e6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 3 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Bd3 | 2 (50%) | |
| 7. Bd2 | 1 (25%) | |
| 7. Be2 | 1 (25%) |
Master games
83 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 33%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2788) 1-0 · chess.com QF Blitz 5m+2spm 2016 · 2016-05-10
- GM Rinat Jumabayev (2628) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2661) 0-1 · Chess.com Rapid Wk8 Swiss · 2022-04-02
- IM Attila Vertetics (2416) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2766) 0-1 · PRO League Group Stage · 2017-02-11
- IM Lucian-Costin Miron (2471) – GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2697) 1/2-1/2 · 19th ch-EUR Indiv 2018 · 2018-03-19
- IM Lucian-Costin Miron (2496) – GM Viktor Erdos (2617) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-ROU Superliga 2015 · 2015-10-10
Search all games of the Grünfeld Defense: Botvinnik Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- khvichachess (2664) – IM IljaSir (2582) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- asxetos123 (2304) – TrashTestDummy (2308) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- KudaTsm (2225) – Zid1ch10 (2064) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 5s
Comes from
Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Vienna Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3
More Grünfeld Defense lines (all)
- Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Burille Variation, Reversed Tarrasch A56
- Grünfeld Defense D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Gibbon Gambit D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Lundin Variation D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Lutikov Variation D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Lutikov Variation, Murrey Attack D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Stockholm Variation D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Zaitsev Gambit D80
- Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Accelerated Variation D81
- Grünfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack D82
- Grünfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack, Grünfeld Gambit D83
- Grünfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack, Grünfeld Gambit, Botvinnik Variation D83
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.