Grünfeld's defense of chess

Grünfeld’s defense in chess is a young debut. He is about a hundred years old. This is the beginning for those who prefer a counterattack game while maintaining a reliable position. It was first used on a professional stage in 1922 by Ernst Grünfeld during a match against Albert Becker.

Grünfeld Defense Ideas

This beginning of the game was developed shortly after the discovery of Alekhine’s defense and is similar to it. Black provokes the opponent to attack the knight on f6, moving the infantryman forward, and after the retreat, they attack the weakened center of the white pieces and by undermining the pawns.

Grünfeld’s defense did not correspond to the concept of chess of his time, therefore he was mercilessly criticized by theorists. It was difficult to learn and was recommended for use by those who like complex, complicated positions. Subsequently, after an in-depth analysis of high-level chess players, the opening was enriched with strategic ideas.

Chess Debut Development

One hundred years ago, this beginning was considered erroneous from a positional point of view. They recommended playing the Grünfeld defense for the whites. They tried to refute it by exchanging pawns on d5 and exchanging knights on c3 with an intermediate move e4. As a result, White got the pawn center, while Black was left without developed pieces and without the seemingly at first glance immediate opportunity to attack the center. But this is not so.

In this version, this position is what Black is striving for today. Their dark-squared bishop will occupy g7, after which Black will undermine the center by c5. With this arrangement, they have a good position. On occasion, they will exchange a white-billed elephant for an enemy horse standing on f3, or put it on b7 and without any problems will strengthen the position of the second horse. The exchange at f3 was used in the Vidmar - Alekhine match in 1936 and White did not succeed.

Ten years later, a new version was found in which a white-field elephant develops on c4, and after that the royal horse develops on e2. This allows you to save the pawn center. In the middle of the last century, this development was successfully used by Boris Spassky and Yefim Geller.

Initial exchanges in the center and development of Vasily Smyslov

Later, when it was found out that after capturing the center, the attacking side did not gain an advantage, the search for other possibilities continued in order to secure a pawn advantage in the central zone. After discovering the main drawback of the option, namely the possibility of black exchanging horses and simplifying the game, the idea was introduced to capture the central zone without exchanges making the game easier. At this time, when playing for Black, Grünfeld’s defense was considered convenient and reliable.

In the 1933 match between Ragozin and Romanovsky, the attacking side created a backlog in the center without a change of figures and gained an advantage. For a long time, the option was considered beneficial for the attacking side. Before the pawn moves e, White takes the royal steed to f3, takes the queen to b3, and only after exchanging for c4 does e4. Only in the late 40s, the plan invented by Vasily Smyslov was considered convenient for blacks.

The main continuation

In the main theoretical version of Grünfeld’s defense, after exchanging a pair of pawns and horses, Black conducts the planned fianchetto of the dark-field officer on the main diagonal h8-a1. Their opponent, in turn, first leads the royal elephant to point c4. His early withdrawal is due to the fact that White plans to bring the knight to e2, followed by the movement of the f-pawn and so that the path is not blocked, it is necessary to develop an officer, and then the knight, in spite of the chess principles.

Black immediately undermines Black's center by moving c7-c5. And their opponent, as planned, takes the mount from the kingside to e2. After that, the defending side will make a castling and, having finally consolidated the combat units, will attack the white pawn center, seizing the initiative. The attacking party will try to hold him back and develop his own initiative.

Computer version

At present, the main continuation of Grünfeld’s defense, after exchanging pawns on d5 and knights on c3, is fiancheting of the black-squared bishop. After that, White develops the king’s steed on f3, and the opponent immediately undermines the center by moving the infantryman to cell c5. The attacking side takes the white-field officer to e2, preparing castling in the short direction, and the defending side develops the queenside horse on c6.

White carries out d5, forcing the knight to decide on the next parking lot, but Black is in no hurry with this, taking the pawn to c3, at the same time declaring a check to the enemy king and is going to win the material on a1. White closes with the bishop, Black takes the rook, after which his opponent plays the piece that was important on the board. Black's knight moves to d4, where he exchanges again, after which they remain with excess material. White with the help of two powerful bishops, a queen, rooks connecting in the future and a pair of strong central pawns will put pressure on the camp of the enemy king.