Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation (10… cxd4 11. cxd4)
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
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D88, 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 cxd4 11. cxd4. 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 18 times by this move order. White won 67%, 5% were drawn and Black won 28%. The most popular continuation is 11… Qa5 (22% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.34 (Stockfish, depth 45; best line 11… Na5 12. Bd3 Nc6 13. e5 Bg4 14. Rb1)
- ECO
- D88
- Moves
- 21 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2n3p1/8/2BPP3/4B3/P3NPPP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 11- 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 cxd4 11. cxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 7 | |
| 2000+ | 11 | |
| All | 18 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 11… Qa5 | 4 (22%) | |
| 11… Bg4 | 4 (22%) | |
| 11… a6 | 3 (17%) | |
| 11… Bd7 | 2 (11%) | |
| 11… Na5 | 2 (11%) | |
| 11… e6 | 2 (11%) | |
| 11… Qc7 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
31 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 32%, draw 33%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- GM Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian (2542) – GM David W L Howell (2650) 0-1 · 44th Olympiad 2022 · 2022-08-05
- GM Matthias Bluebaum (2643) – GM Jan Votava (2521) 1-0 · TCh-AUT 2019-20 · 2020-01-12
- GM Anton Korobov (2683) – FM Lukasz Licznerski (2382) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 30th Mar · 2021-03-30
- GM Daniil Yuffa (2587) – IM Lukasz Licznerski (2441) 1/2-1/2 · European Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-16
- IM Roman Lovkov (2462) – GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2511) 0-1 · 9th Varna Open 2015 · 2015-06-29
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Cochondindo (2334) – IvanGermogenovich (2306) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- bbrelaunch (2312) – doobidoo (2304) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- APetelin (2335) – dehermes9 (2229) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
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.