Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense
1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 e5
The Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B01, reached after 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 e5. It is a line of the Van Geet Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,072 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nf3 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 4. Bc4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d3 Nf6)
- ECO
- B01
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/4p3/4N3/8/PPPP1PPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 650 | |
| 1500-1999 | 324 | |
| 2000+ | 98 | |
| All | 1,072 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nf3 | 492 (46%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 183 (17%) | |
| 4. d3 | 97 (9%) | |
| 4. Ng3 | 49 (5%) | |
| 4. Bb5+ | 43 (4%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 38 (4%) | |
| 4. c3 | 27 (3%) | |
| 4. d4 | 24 (2%) |
Master games
24 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 8%, Black 46%). The strongest:
- GM Igor Janik (2511) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 0-1 · Titled Tue 16th Jul Early · 2024-07-16
- IM Chen Wang (2495) – GM Chongsheng Zeng (2542) 0-1 · ch-CHN 2018 · 2018-04-22
- GM Jonathan Westerberg (2468) – Nils Carlsson (2063) 1-0 · Robert Spangbergs Mem · 2024-02-17
- GM Gennadi Gutman (2445) – CM Zaw Ye Htut (2083) 0-1 · Titled Tue 6th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-06
- FM Havard Haug (2367) – FM Ruben Fernandez Lopez (2160) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th Sep 2025 · 2025-09-09
Search all games of the Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- vulvik1 (2383) – zlarkisz (2460) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- eddydaddy (2339) – CapitanAfrica (2503) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- eddydaddy (2354) – CapitanAfrica (2482) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Scandinavian Defense (1. e4 d5) 1. e4 d5
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.