Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Vienna Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3
The Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Vienna Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO D95, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3. It is a line of the Grünfeld Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 39 times by this move order. White won 69%, 3% were drawn and Black won 28%. The most popular continuation is 6… dxc4 (49% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6… e6 7. Be2 b6 8. O-O dxc4 9. Qxc4)
- ECO
- D95
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1ppbp/5np1/3p4/2PP4/1QN1PN2/PP3PPP/R1B1KB1R b KQ - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 13 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 39 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… dxc4 | 19 (49%) | |
| 6… c6 | 12 (31%) | |
| 6… e6 Botvinnik Variation | 4 (10%) | |
| 6… c5 | 3 (8%) | |
| 6… a6 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
94 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 32%, Black 21%). The strongest:
- GM Aleksandar Kovacevic (2474) – GM Bojan Vuckovic (2578) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-SRB Premier 2020 · 2020-10-03
- GM Gergely Aczel (2538) – Konstantin Sek (2469) 1-0 · Balaton Summer's End GM · 2019-08-31
- IM Johann Carlos Alvarez Marquez (2404) – GM Andreas Heimann (2603) 1/2-1/2 · Basel Masters 2017 · 2017-01-05
- GM Jesse Kraai (2429) – IM Sergei Lobanov (2516) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 2nd June · 2020-06-02
- IM Yevgeniy Roshka (2512) – FM Peter Balint (2420) 1-0 · TCh-AUT Blitz 2026 · 2026-05-16
Highest-rated Lichess games
- khvichachess (2664) – IM IljaSir (2582) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Your_Waterloo (2662) – XuBofang (2530) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- RadosCal (2524) – The_Iceberg (2475) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Grünfeld Defense: Three Knights Variation, Burille Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3
Continuations
- Grünfeld Defense: Botvinnik Variation D95 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. e3 O-O 6. Qb3 e6
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.