Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation (8. Ne2 O-O)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O
The Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky 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 O-O. It is a line of the Grünfeld Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 229 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 9. O-O (68% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.21 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 9. Be3 Nc6 10. O-O b6 11. Qd2 Bb7)
- ECO
- D87
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/pp2ppbp/6p1/2p5/2BPP3/2P5/P3NPPP/R1BQK2R w KQ - 2 9- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 73 | |
| 2000+ | 156 | |
| All | 229 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. O-O | 155 (68%) | |
| 9. Be3 | 69 (30%) | |
| 9. h4 | 2 (1%) | |
| 9. d5 | 1 (0%) | |
| 9. Rb1 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,296 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 22%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2872) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2780) 1/2-1/2 · 11th London Classic 2019 · 2019-12-04
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2872) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2767) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2019 · 2019-12-30
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2842) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2774) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates 2020 · 2020-03-21
- GM Levon Aronian (2764) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) 1-0 · 6th Norway Chess 2018 · 2018-06-01
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2876) – GM Nils Grandelius (2691) 1-0 · Chess24 Banter Blitz Cup · 2020-04-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ScaryIndianJunior (2782) – Normal_one (2699) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- chessruiwang (2563) – SouthWind06 (2563) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- FM sergeikim2003 (2515) – Cuni_chess (2528) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 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
Continuations
- Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Sokolsky Variation D89 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 Bg4 11. f3 Na5 12. Bd3 cxd4 13. cxd4 Be6 14. d5
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.