Grünfeld Defense — what it means in chess
A hypermodern defense striking the center with ...d5 after a fianchetto.
A hypermodern defense striking the center with ...d5 after a fianchetto.
[[board startfen="rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" caption="The Grünfeld: ...d5 strikes the center instead of holding one — inviting White to build the broadest pawn front in mainline chess, then besieging it with pieces for the rest of the game." pgn="d4 Nf6 c4 g6 Nc3 d5" notes="The hypermodern idea at maximum voltage. The queen's pawn. The flexible knight. The full claim. The fianchetto signal — so far this could be a King's Indian. More force to the center. And the fork in philosophy: where the King's Indian holds its center modestly with ...d6, the Grünfeld STRIKES with ...d5, offering the whole center to White through the coming exchanges. White typically emerges with the grand c3-d4-e4 front; Black emerges with the g7 bishop, the ...c5 counterblow, and a single target — d4 — that every Black piece will attack until it falls or the game ends."]]
The Grünfeld Defense is the hypermodern wager played at maximum stakes: Black strikes the center with ...d5, invites the exchanges that hand White the broadest pawn front in mainline chess, and then spends the entire game proving that front is a target rather than an asset. The division of labor is stark and beautiful — White gets the classical dream, pawns abreast in the center; Black gets a single strategic idea executed with every piece: the g7 bishop, the ...c5 break, the queen and rooks converging, all aimed at d4. Few openings are so honest about their plan, and few punish deviation from it faster.
The Endgame Society glossary defines more than 240 chess terms — rules, notation, tactics, strategy, pawn structures, endgames, and openings — in language a beginner can act on rather than dictionary shorthand.