Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Modern Exchange Variation, Kramnik's Line
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. h3
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Modern Exchange Variation, Kramnik's Line 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. h3. 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 9 times by this move order. White won 44%, 0% were drawn and Black won 56%. The most popular continuation is 8… O-O (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 8… Nc6 9. Be3 Qa5 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Be2)
- ECO
- D85
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/pp2ppbp/6p1/2p5/3PP3/2P2N1P/P4PP1/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. h3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 9 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… O-O | 4 (44%) | |
| 8… Nc6 | 3 (33%) | |
| 8… Qa5 | 2 (22%) |
Master games
49 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 24%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Boris Grachev (2593) – GM Pavel Ponkratov (2593) 1/2-1/2 · Ugra Cup Rapid 2022 · 2022-11-27
- GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder (2513) – GM Benjamin Gledura (2633) 1/2-1/2 · Airthings Play-In Match · 2023-02-03
- GM Florian, Dr. Handke (2531) – GM Rinat Jumabayev (2606) 1-0 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-13
- GM Vitaly Kunin (2582) – GM Francesco Rambaldi (2543) 1-0 · Mitropa Cup 2016 · 2016-06-23
- GM Tamas Banusz (2606) – IM Jaroslaw Krassowizkij (2456) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-AUT 2018-19 · 2018-11-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Bitcoinchef3 (2593) – froschbein (2507) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- FM GG1891 (2514) – DoctorDoom123 (2490) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- zlatnakisa33 (2360) – Risikoaffin (2405) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
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.