Grünfeld Defense: Opocensky Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2
The Grünfeld Defense: Opocensky Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D94, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2. 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 17 times by this move order. White won 59%, 0% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 6… c5 (65% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 6… c5 7. dxc5 Na6 8. cxd5 Nxc5 9. Bc4)
- ECO
- D94
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1ppbp/5np1/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP1B1PPP/R2QKB1R b KQ - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Bd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 8 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 17 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… c5 | 11 (65%) | |
| 6… c6 | 2 (12%) | |
| 6… b6 | 1 (6%) | |
| 6… e6 | 1 (6%) | |
| 6… a6 | 1 (6%) | |
| 6… dxc4 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
121 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 38%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2789) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Norway Chess 2018 · 2018-05-28
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) – GM So, W. (2765) 1/2-1/2 · 82nd Tata Steel GpA · 2020-01-11
- GM Praggnanandhaa R (2779) – GM Rauf Mamedov (2659) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-09
- GM Nihal Sarin (2670) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-07
- GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2743) – GM Andrei Volokitin (2687) 1/2-1/2 · 82nd ch-UKR 2013 · 2013-06-23
Search all games of the Grünfeld Defense: Opocensky Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- JAO2905 (2376) – cometomom (2292) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- NikolaMatic (2230) – DrMenghy (2248) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- NikolaMatic (2214) – sclg (2246) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Burille Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3
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.