Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense, Steiner Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4
The Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense, Steiner Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4. It is a line of the Van Geet Opening. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 170 times by this move order. White won 48%, 6% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 4… exf4 (64% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.35 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 4… Nf6 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. c3 Nxe4 7. Qxe4)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/4p3/4NP2/8/PPPP2PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 16 | |
| 1500-1999 | 120 | |
| 2000+ | 34 | |
| All | 170 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… exf4 | 108 (64%) | |
| 4… f5 | 18 (11%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 16 (9%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 14 (8%) | |
| 4… Qd4 | 7 (4%) | |
| 4… Bf5 | 5 (3%) | |
| 4… Qh4+ | 2 (1%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- Leonard Vu (1813) – Evan Park (2146) 0-1 · PNWCC Online Blitz JP II · 2020-03-21
Search all games of the Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense, Steiner Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Akop_15 (2287) – NIVAAL (2403) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Aleksander_DD (2342) – Cesia53 (2199) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Doniafendi (2241) – Fragvm (2296) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Milner-Barry Variation 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3
More Van Geet Opening lines (all)
- Van Geet Opening A00
- Van Geet Opening: Battambang Variation A00
- Van Geet Opening: Billockus-Johansen Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Damhaug Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Dougherty Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Dunst-Perrenet Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Düsseldorf Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Gladbacher Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hector Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hergert Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Hulsemann Gambit A00
- Van Geet Opening: Jendrossek Gambit A00
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.