Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Szabo Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 c6
The Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Szabo 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 c6. 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 29 times by this move order. White won 45%, 14% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 8. Be2 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.55 (Stockfish, depth 52; best line 8. Be2 b5 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. e5 Be6)
- ECO
- D97
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2p2np1/8/2QPP3/2N2N2/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 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 29 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Be2 | 13 (45%) | |
| 8. Be3 | 3 (10%) | |
| 8. Bg5 | 3 (10%) | |
| 8. Bd3 | 2 (7%) | |
| 8. Qb3 | 2 (7%) | |
| 8. e5 | 2 (7%) | |
| 8. Bf4 | 1 (3%) | |
| 8. h3 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
133 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 52%, draw 28%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2734) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2758) 1-0 · SportAccord Blitz 2014 · 2014-12-15
- GM Emre Can (2600) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2728) 1/2-1/2 · Aeroflot Open A 2020 · 2020-02-20
- GM Aleksandar Indjic (2618) – GM Grzegorz Nasuta (2535) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 13th Oct · 2020-10-13
- GM Tiger Hillarp Persson (2544) – GM Mads Andersen (2597) 1/2-1/2 · 57th TCh-DEN Ex 2018-19 · 2019-01-12
- IM Linus Johansson (2476) – GM Mads Andersen (2585) 0-1 · SWE-DEN Match 2020 · 2020-05-21
Search all games of the Grünfeld Defense: Russian Variation, Szabo Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Hossein_MZ (2467) – Ezomandias (2502) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- GomezDavid (2429) – SagarSisodia (2510) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Risikoaffin (2413) – Hisoka84 (2373) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 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.