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Neo-Grunfeld Defense (D70)
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3 d5

Number of games in database: 1651
Years covered: 1924 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 45.5%
   Black wins 27.0%
   Draws 27.5%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Evgeny Postny  22 games
Ding Liren  17 games
Levon Aronian  16 games
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave  19 games
Ian Nepomniachtchi  18 games
Peter Svidler  17 games
NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]
White Wins Black Wins
Alekhine vs Bogoljubov, 1929
Carlsen vs C Li, 2015
Fine vs A Dake, 1933
Kramnik vs Shirov, 1998
Euwe vs Reshevsky, 1938
Mamedyarov vs I Kurnosov, 2009
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 page 1 of 67; games 1-25 of 1,651  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Gruenfeld vs G Nagy 1-0111924DebrecenD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
2. L Palau vs A Gibaud  1-0251924Paris Unofficial OlympiadD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
3. P van Hoorn vs Euwe 0-1361927Amsterdam CC ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
4. S Landau vs Reti  ½-½271927Reti - LandauD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
5. A Nimzowitsch vs Tartakower ½-½301928BerlinD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
6. Alekhine vs Bogoljubov ½-½451929Alekhine - Bogoljubov World Championship MatchD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
7. Alekhine vs Bogoljubov 1-0341929Alekhine - Bogoljubov World Championship MatchD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
8. W Berryman vs S Landau  0-1121930HastingsD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
9. W Winter vs Menchik 0-1161930Kent County PremierD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
10. Alekhine vs Bogoljubov ½-½371931BledD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
11. V Rauzer vs N Riumin  1-0481931USSR ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
12. Spielmann vs Bogoljubov 1-0401932Spielmann - BogoljubovD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
13. Euwe vs S Khan ½-½601932BernD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
14. L Engels vs G Michalowski  0-1321933NSV blitz chD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
15. L Roedl vs K Helling  1-0381933German ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
16. G Kieninger vs L Engels  0-1451933NSV chD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
17. Fine vs A Dake 1-037193334th Western ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
18. A Batuev vs S Gotthilf  1-0451934Ch RabprosD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
19. E Hahn vs C Carls  ½-½431934German ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
20. M Broeder vs M Schreiber  ½-½191934Yugoslav Amateur ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
21. L Piazzini vs M Castillo  ½-½481934South American Championship 1934/35D70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
22. M Yudovich Sr vs S von Freymann  1-0251934USSR Championship 1934/35D70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
23. J Foltys vs V Olexa 0-1271935LuhacoviceD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
24. F Collins vs E Cordingley 0-1191935Ludlow CongressD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
25. V Goglidze vs Spielmann  ½-½321935MoscowD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
 page 1 of 67; games 1-25 of 1,651  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Oct-21-05  jamesmaskell: Its pronounced "groonfeld" as I understand it.
Oct-21-05  hintza: <jamesmaskell> <The spelling comes from the fact that normally the e isnt there but instead there is an umlaut (two dots) above the u>

Indeed, Grünfeld is correct.

<Its pronounced "groonfeld" as I understand it.>

It is similar, hard to explain and difficult for non-natives like ourselves to grasp. Something like saying a German "i" but with the lips in a position for "u".

Oct-21-05  henderson10: <hintza> When I took German I always pronounced it ('it' being a u with an umlaut) as though it were Gruernfeld, but without enunciating the (second) r, if that makes any sense. It's a bit difficult to explain, and as you said a bit difficult to grasp for a non-native speaker because it is more gutteral than English vowel sounds are.
May-28-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  WTHarvey: Here are 10 Neo-Grunfeld puzzles from miniatures: http://www.wtharvey.com/d70.html What's the best move?
Aug-14-06  alphastrike20: is the grunfeld still playable at the super grandmaster level as black with winning chances?
Aug-14-06  Ziggurat: <is the grunfeld still playable at the super grandmaster level as black with winning chances?> Peter Svidler apparently thinks so, as he plays it quite often. For what it's worth, he beat the current #1 Topalov with the Grünfeld in Sofia this year.
Nov-23-06  Zebra: What exactly constitutes the "Neo-Gruenfeld"? I have seen the name given to versions of the symmetrical English where black plays an early d5. But in those cases white played g3 not f3, as far as I remember.
Nov-23-06  hitman84: <Zebra> look for the answer a few posts above, <refutor> has is spot on.
Nov-23-06  Zebra: Thanks, I missed that. I was looking for some deviation by black rather than white. I like the Swedish version "anti-Gruenfeld".
Feb-03-08  apexin: I recently bought a book entitled "how to play the grunfeld" in which the author recommends meeting 3.f3 with the outrageous 3...e5!!? when play might continue 4 dxe5 Nh4! 5.Nh3 (probably the only try for an advantage) Qh4+ Nf2 etc.

It would be interesting to hear some opinions on this variation

Feb-03-08  slomarko: <Nh4!> Nh5
Feb-03-08  apexin: yes, in fact it is 4...Nh5 thank you for correcting
Feb-03-08  slomarko: <apexin> thanks to you for pointing this out. i always searched for some good antidote for 3.f3 and now i'll try the variation you gave.
Mar-20-08  arnaud1959: <apexin> It's a question of style I think. Many players can play 5.g3 here and maintain a solid positon with an extra pawn. When I see that in most of the variations with 3...d5 white castles on the Q-side I don't see why the same plan wouldn't work here.
Mar-20-08  hrvyklly: <apexin: I recently bought a book entitled "how to play the grunfeld" in which the author recommends meeting 3.f3 with the outrageous 3...e5> Adorjan (the originator of 3...e5) wrote about it in 'Black is OK! Forever', 4 pages of analysis. Why won't anyone play 3.f3 against me!
Mar-24-08  Youjoin: <hrvyklly> I´d give a try, why not? I´m <youjoin> on GameKnot...
Apr-23-08  littlefermat: <is the grunfeld still playable at the super grandmaster level as black with winning chances?>

I wonder if it's playable at any level. It seems White allows Black his c and d pawns and Black, in return, allows White his king. At least that's how it goes in my games.

Apr-23-08  hrvyklly: <littlefermat: I wonder if it's playable at any level> Of course it is, maybe it just doesn't suit you? It is an acquired taste and not an easy opening, as it's far more ambitious than say, the Queen's Indian.
Jan-04-09  WhiteRook48: I don't like this opening it denies white the f3 square for his ♘
Feb-26-09  FiveofSwords: This is a samish kings indian. Not a grunfeld. at least it will be a samish if the play continues normally. I dont know about this 3..e5. black loses a pawn and then decentralizes his knight and doesnt even force anything. Which means I dont understand what his idea is in doing this, and more to the point white has about 500,000,000,000,000 different possible plans and ill have no idea how to 'take advantage' of my pawn minus and unstable, decentralized knight in effectively all of them. if you look at 4 pages which deal with every possible variation dealing with one white move...(but there will need to be more than 4 pages for that honestly) then you still have 31 other moves to deal with. This is going to be a lot of work just to hopefully get a playable game, at best. Since the number of possible variations will quickly explode to astronomical numbers, you can expect white somwhere in the next 2 or 3 moves to play something you aren't 'prepared' for, and then you have this crap position and no idea how to fix it. Concerning the grunfeld in general, I used to play nothing but the grunfeld against 1d4 and tried to play it against 1c4. I had a plan figured out for all sorts of conceivable white tries and I became a little bit married to it, but so often I got very crappy positions that I hated. I finially had the foresight to realize the grunfeld is not for me. Maybe other people can play it, but Im personally much more comfortable and happy with the positions I get from the QGA. Its true that the grunfeld sometimes makes very interesting posiitons..but sometimes it makes simply dismal positions and anyway I find that I can make the QGA quite interesting enough, if I'm okay with a little risk.
Feb-26-09  blacksburg: <This is a samish kings indian. Not a grunfeld. at least it will be a samish if the play continues normally.>

as black has played the early ...d5, this is a gruenfeld, not a KID. i've never seen a saemisch KID where black plays ...d5 like this.

<Which means I dont understand what his idea is in doing this>

it's the basic gruenfeld idea - allow white to build up a large pawn center, and try to undermine it.

Jul-05-09  WhiteRook48: 3. f3???? weak
Aug-15-09  YuanTi: 3.f3 usually transposes to a Samisch King's Indian, and makes the Grunfeld less appealing to many players who would have played it after 3.Nc3. After 3...d5 White is in no danger.

Basically it's sound if you would have gone the Samisch route against the King's Indian anyway.

Aug-15-09  whiteshark: Following the main moves a bit: <1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 O-O 8. Qd2>


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Opening Explorer

Apr-13-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Opening of the Day:
Neo-Grunfeld Defense (D70)
1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 g6 3.♘f3 d5

I've heard of Neo-Grunfeld again,but what's an Indian-Grunfeld?

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