Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Classical Variation

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4

The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D86, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4. It is a line of the Grünfeld Defense. Black is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,180 times by this move order. White won 46%, 7% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 7… c5 (66% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 7… O-O 8. Ne2 c5 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3)

ECO: D86
Moves: 13 plies
FEN: rnbqk2r/ppp1ppbp/6p1/8/2BPP3/2P5/P4PPP/R1BQK1NR b KQkq - 2 7
PGN: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	11	55%45%
1500-1999	469	47%49%
2000+	700	46%46%
All	1,180	46%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
7… c5	780 (66%)	46%47%
7… O-O	393 (33%)	46%48%
7… Nc6	3 (0%)	33%67%
7… e5	2 (0%)	100%
7… e6	1 (0%)	100%
7… c6	1 (0%)	100%

Master games

2,479 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 24%, Black 36%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-24
LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-03
GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM So, W. (2770) 1/2-1/2 · Lindores Abbey Prelim · 2020-05-20
GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) – GM So, W. (2770) 1-0 · Clutch Chess Showdown Int · 2020-06-12

Search all games of the Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Classical Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

vistagusta (2832) – winx_m (2921) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
ScaryIndianJunior (2798) – Sunrise34 (2846) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
ScaryIndianJunior (2821) – Sobino106 (2777) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5

Continuations

Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Larsen Variation (8. Ne2 Qd7) D86 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 Qd7
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Simagin's Improved Variation D86 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 Nc6
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Simagin's Lesser Variation D86 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Ne2 b6
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation (8. Ne2 O-O) D87 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation (10… cxd4 11. cxd4) D88 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O cxd4 11. cxd4
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Seville Variation D87 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bxf7+
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation (13. cxd4 Be6) D89 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6

More Grünfeld Defense lines (all)

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.