Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Burille Variation, Reversed Tarrasch
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. O-O Nc6
The Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Burille Variation, Reversed Tarrasch is a chess opening classified as ECO A56, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. O-O Nc6. 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 11 times by this move order. White won 64%, 0% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 9. h3 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9. Be3 dxc4 10. d5 Na5 11. b4 cxb3)
- ECO
- A56
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2n2np1/3p4/2PP4/2N2N2/PP2BPPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 2 9- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 cxd4 7. exd4 d5 8. O-O Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. h3 | 5 (45%) | |
| 9. c5 | 2 (18%) | |
| 9. Bf4 | 1 (9%) | |
| 9. a3 | 1 (9%) | |
| 9. Bg5 | 1 (9%) | |
| 9. Be3 | 1 (9%) |
Master games
36 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 25%, draw 28%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- GM Ventzislav Inkiov (2421) – GM Alexander Donchenko (2584) 1/2-1/2 · GRENKE Chess Open 2019 · 2019-04-20
- GM Ventzislav Inkiov (2460) – FM Julien Song (2398) 1/2-1/2 · 17th Creon Open 2012 · 2012-08-03
- GM Ognjen Cvitan (2491) – IM Valer Krutti (2361) 1-0 · European Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-17
- IM Dragos-Nicolae Dumitrache (2423) – FM Victor Stephan (2302) 1/2-1/2 · 30th Avoine Open 2015 · 2015-07-26
- FM Yakup Bayram (2232) – GM Davit Maghalashvili (2485) 0-1 · TCh-TUR 1st League 2019 · 2019-07-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Bager69 (2177) – Kevin-M (2293) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- dw_dw (2168) – JoramX (2143) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- dw_dw (2164) – poserrusee (2067) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Benoni Defense (2. c4 c5) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5
More Grünfeld Defense lines (all)
- 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
- Grünfeld Defense: Brinckmann Attack, Grünfeld Gambit, Capablanca 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.