Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Modern Exchange Variation (7… c5 8. Rb1)
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Rb1
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Modern Exchange Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D85, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Rb1. It is a line of the Grünfeld Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 33 times by this move order. White won 45%, 13% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 8… O-O (64% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.26 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 8… O-O 9. Be2 Bg4 10. O-O cxd4 11. cxd4)
- ECO
- D85
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2ppbp/6p1/2p5/3PP3/2P2N2/P4PPP/1RBQKB1R b Kkq - 1 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. Rb1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 31 | |
| All | 33 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… O-O | 21 (64%) | |
| 8… Nc6 | 7 (21%) | |
| 8… Qa5 | 3 (9%) | |
| 8… Qc7 | 1 (3%) | |
| 8… cxd4 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
184 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 28%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Daniil Dubov (2710) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2847) 0-1 · DM Carlsen-Dubov 2021 · 2021-04-22
- GM Levon Aronian (2809) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2722) 1-0 · Alekhine Mem · 2013-05-01
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2793) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-11-28
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2713) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2731) 1-0 · SportAccord Blitz Men 2013 · 2013-12-14
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2710) – GM Peter Svidler (2714) 1-0 · Saint Louis Blitz 2021 · 2021-08-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Lakridstrollet (2496) – DoctorDoom123 (2430) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- Sergejs-Gromovs (2380) – qzrchess77 (2518) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Sergejs-Gromovs (2386) – Narti08 (2370) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
King's Indian Defense: Normal Variation, King's Knight Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4
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.