Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Seville Variation
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+
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Seville Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D87, reached after 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+. 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 16 times by this move order. White won 63%, 6% were drawn and Black won 31%. The most popular continuation is 12… Rxf7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.28 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 12… Rxf7 13. fxg4 Rxf1+ 14. Kxf1 Qd6 15. e5)
- ECO
- D87
- Moves
- 23 plies
- FEN
r2q1rk1/pp2pBbp/6p1/n1p5/3PP1b1/2P1BP2/P3N1PP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 12- PGN
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+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 16 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 12… Rxf7 | 16 (100%) |
Master games
67 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 33%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Anish Giri (2764) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) 1/2-1/2 · Carlsen Inv Prelim · 2020-04-26
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2752) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2784) 1-0 · Play for Russia Prelim · 2020-05-13
- GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2727) – GM Yi Wei (2740) 1/2-1/2 · 86th Tata Steel Masters · 2024-01-18
- GM Quang Liem Le (2693) – GM Emil Sutovsky (2687) 1/2-1/2 · ACP Golden Classic · 2012-07-22
- GM Boris Gelfand (2676) – GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2678) 1/2-1/2 · Legends of Chess Prelim · 2020-07-22
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Andrey-SP (2379) – Wanderkoenig (2573) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- Kokomeloni (2437) – bahrbyshait (2398) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- bbrelaunch (2356) – papersch (2385) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
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
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.