Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Hungarian Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6
The Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Hungarian Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D97, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6. 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 47 times by this move order. White won 51%, 9% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 8. Be2 (64% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 8. Qb3 b5 9. e5 Nfd7 10. Ng5 Nc6)
- ECO
- D97
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/1pp1ppbp/p4np1/8/2QPP3/2N2N2/PP3PPP/R1B1KB1R w KQ - 0 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 7 | |
| 2000+ | 40 | |
| All | 47 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Be2 | 30 (64%) | |
| 8. e5 | 7 (15%) | |
| 8. Qb3 | 6 (13%) | |
| 8. Be3 | 2 (4%) | |
| 8. Bd3 | 1 (2%) | |
| 8. a4 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
677 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 31%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2863) – GM Levon Aronian (2773) 1-0 · Saint Louis Rapid 2020 · 2020-09-16
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2881) – GM Anish Giri (2752) 1-0 · 2nd Norway Blitz 2014 · 2014-06-02
- GM Anish Giri (2797) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2810) 1/2-1/2 · Tbilisi FIDE GP 2015 · 2015-02-23
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2786) – GM Boris Gelfand (2777) 1-0 · 5th Classic KO 2013 · 2013-12-15
- GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2706) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2844) 1/2-1/2 · Baku FIDE Grand Prix 2014 · 2014-10-10
Highest-rated Lichess games
- July16Q (2637) – Epichess95 (2848) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2639) – GM abhijeet1610 (2764) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- July16Q (2667) – smihir6 (2725) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation (6… O-O 7. e4) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4
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.