Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Simagin's Lesser Variation
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
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Simagin's Lesser 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 O-O 8. Ne2 b6. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 50%, 0% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 9. Be3 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.69 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 9. h4 Nc6 10. Bd5 Qd6 11. h5 e6)
- ECO
- D86
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/p1p1ppbp/1p4p1/8/2BPP3/2P5/P3NPPP/R1BQK2R w KQ - 0 9- PGN
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
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. Be3 | 1 (50%) | |
| 9. O-O | 1 (50%) |
Master games
23 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 30%, draw 40%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- StoofvleesII d2 (3479) – Seer2.8.0 (3499) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-24
- Seer2.8.0 (3499) – StoofvleesII d2 (3479) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Premier 2024 · 2024-04-22
- IM Ishaq Saeed (2411) – GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2611) 1-0 · 4th Sharjah Masters 2021 · 2021-09-19
- FM Ishaq Saeed (2434) – IM Mokhliss El Adnani (2448) 0-1 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-28
- IM Diego Macias Pino (2471) – IM Adrian Suarez Uriel (2401) 1-0 · Madrid Chess Festival A · 2024-06-14
Highest-rated Lichess games
- dolynachess (2506) – JAGMM (2664) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Mohsenk9414 (2390) – whoisyourking (2353) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 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.