Grünfeld Defence, Nadanian Variation
Encyclopedia
The Nadanian Variation of the Grünfeld Defence
Grünfeld Defence
The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...

 is a chess opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

 characterised by the moves:
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 d5
4. cxd5 Nxd5
5. Na4


The Nadanian Variation is classified in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings is a classification system for the opening moves in a game of chess. It is presented as a five volume book collection describing chess openings...

 (ECO) with the code D85.

History

The variation is named after the Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n International Master Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master , chess theoretician and chess coach....

, who first employed it in 1996. His analysis was published in the 67th volume of Chess Informant
Chess Informant
Chess Informant is a publishing company from Belgrade that periodically produces a book of the same name, as well as the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, Encyclopaedia of Chess Endings, Opening Monographs, other print publications, and software Chess Informant (Šahovski Informator) is a...

.

The birth of the variation has caused major ripples in the chess world. One of the world's most authoritative chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 editions New in Chess
New In Chess
New In Chess is a chess magazine that appears eight times a year with chief editors International Grandmaster Jan Timman and Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam. It contains notes by top players and chess prodigies on their own games...

 Yearbook
printed on the front cover of the 45th volume the following: "A Revolution in the Gruenfeld: 5.Na4!?!". Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson
Jonathan Rowson
Jonathan Rowson is Scotland's third chess Grandmaster, after Paul Motwani and Colin McNab, and has played first board at recent Chess Olympiads. He is also a chess author.-Career:...

 wrote in his book Understanding the Grünfeld that Nadanian "should be congratulated for seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking what nobody had thought".

The famous chess theoretician
Chess theory
The game of chess is commonly divided into three phases: the opening, middlegame, and endgame. As to each of these phases, especially the opening and endgame, there is a large body of theory as how the game should be played...

, Grandmaster Igor Zaitsev
Igor Zaitsev
Igor Arkadyevich Zaitsev is a Russian grandmaster of chess. He is of Armenian descent.-Early life and family:He was born in Ramenskoe, a town outside Moscow...

 in 64
64 (chess magazine)
The magazine 64 is a Russian chess and draughts publication, published in Moscow. Its name refers to the number of squares on a chessboard. The magazine awards the Chess Oscar annually.-History:...

Russian chess magazine wrote:
The continuation 5.Nа4 of Armenian chess player Nadanian shakes by the extraordinariness. Yes, extraordinariness, because it is unusual among the unusual. A voluntary removal of the knight from the centre, yet that has gone on advantage? Therefore, the value of such centrifugal maneuver is beyond a simple theoretical novelty, in a certain measure it is a challenge to chess foundations, an attempt to grope new properties in two-dimensional chess space.

Theory

White's
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...

 fifth move is overprotecting the key c5-square in the Grünfeld Defence
Grünfeld Defence
The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The first instance of this opening is in an 1855 game by Moheschunder Bannerjee, an Indian player who had transitioned from Indian chess rules, playing black against John Cochrane in Calcutta, in May 1855: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4...

, thus aspires to prevent an attack on the pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...

 centre by c7–c5. The extravagancy of White's idea is that they break at once two opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

 principles: avoid moving the same piece
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...

 twice, and avoid placing a knight
Knight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

 on the edge of the board. However, according to Nadanian, the position after the fifth move is an exception to the rules. By placing the knight on а4, White takes under control the critical square c5, and by next move 6.e4 will return a tempo
Tempo (chess)
In chess, tempo refers to a "turn" or single move. When a player achieves a desired result in one fewer move, he "gains a tempo" and conversely when he takes one more move than necessary he "loses a tempo"...

 back, as Black
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...

 too will play by already developed piece (knight on d5).

White should aspire to the following arrangement: e4, Be3, Be2, Nf3, 0-0, Rc1, Nc5. Black in turn should not allow this scheme for what it is necessary for them to put pressure on the d4 pawn.

The main line continues 5...Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 (Avrukh's
Boris Avrukh
Boris Leonidovich Avrukh is an Israeli chess grandmaster. He was the World Under-12 champion in 1990.He has played for Israel six times in Chess Olympiads.* In 1998, at second reserve board at the 33rd Chess Olympiad in Elista ;...

 6...Nb4 is also interesting) 7.Be3 0-0 8.Nf3 Bg4 (instead 8...Nxa4 9.Qxa4 c5 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Rd2 was good for White in Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli chess Grandmaster. He is one of the several top chess grandmasters who were born in Baku, Azerbaijan .-Successes:...

, Dresden 1998) 9.Be2 Nc6 10.d5 Ne5 11.Nxe5 Bxe2 12.Qxe2 Nxa4 with approximately equal chances.

Another possible line is 5...e5 6.dxe5 Nc6 (suggested by Igor Zaitsev
Igor Zaitsev
Igor Arkadyevich Zaitsev is a Russian grandmaster of chess. He is of Armenian descent.-Early life and family:He was born in Ramenskoe, a town outside Moscow...

 and first played by Mikhalchishin
Adrian Mikhalchishin
Adrian Bogdanovich Mikhalchishin is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster now playing for Slovenia....

), which is according to Lubomir Kavalek "perhaps the only way to punish the white knight's venture to the edge of the board". After 7.a3 (Nadanian's idea) 7...Bf5 8.Nf3 Qd7 9.e3 0-0-0 10.Be2 (Eingorn gives 10.Bb5 Qe6) 10...Qe7 11.Qb3 Bg7 according to Yelena Dembo
Yelena Dembo
Yelena Dembo is a Greek International Master of chess. On the May 2010 FIDE rating list for women, she is ranked 31st in the world, with a rating of 2470. She became a Woman Grandmaster when she was seventeen years old, and an International Master at age nineteen...

 Black has a powerful initiative (Kantsler–Avrukh, Israel 1999).

Use

The variation's most devoted practitioner has been its eponym, Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master , chess theoretician and chess coach....

. Various famous players such as Swiss Grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

, Chinese Super-grandmaster Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In 1999, he became China's 10th Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue...

, American GM Walter Browne, Scottish GM Jonathan Rowson
Jonathan Rowson
Jonathan Rowson is Scotland's third chess Grandmaster, after Paul Motwani and Colin McNab, and has played first board at recent Chess Olympiads. He is also a chess author.-Career:...

, Russian GM Andrei Kharlov
Andrei Kharlov
__FORCETOC__Andrei Kharlov is a Russian chess player. In 1992, he received the title of Grandmaster after tying for first place in the 1990 Russian National Championships. Since then, Kharlov has won the 1996 Eurocup and the 1998 Russian Club Cup with the Kazan chess team...

, Israeli GM Vitali Golod
Vitali Golod
Vitali Golod is a Soviet–Israeli chess grandmaster.As of April 2007, his Elo rating was 2597, making him the # 7 player in Israel and the 152nd-highest rated player in the world. It is his peak rating so far.-Chess career:...

 and Croatian GM Bogdan Lalić
Bogdan Lalic
Bogdan Lalic is a Croatian-English Grandmaster of chess. He was born in the former Yugoslavia in 1964. FIDE awarded him the International Grandmaster title in 1988. He finished equal first at the Pleven 1987 and Sarajevo 1988 tournaments. Although registered with the Croatian Federation, he...

 have employed it at some time or another, though few have made it their main line against the Grünfeld Defence.

Example games

Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian
Ashot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master , chess theoretician and chess coach....

 (2375) – Yannick Pelletier
Yannick Pelletier
Yannick Pelletier is a Swiss chess player. He has been a Grandmaster since 2001, and won the Swiss Chess Championship in 1995, 2000, and 2002....

 (2470) [D90] Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

 op 18th 1997:


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4 Bg7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.e4 Nb6 8.Be2 Nxa4 9.Qxa4 b6 10.Be3 Bb7 11.Qc2 Nd7 12.Rd1 e6 13.0-0 h6 14.Bb5 c6 15.Bxc6 Rc8 16.d5 Nb8 17.Qc1 exd5 18.exd5 Nxc6 19.dxc6 Qf6 20.Bxh6 Bxc6 21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.Qg5 Bxf3 23.Qxf6+ Kxf6 24.gxf3 Rc2 ½–½

Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi ; pronounced in the original Russian as "karch NOY"; Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й, born March 23, 1931 is a professional chess player, author and currently the oldest active grandmaster on the tournament circuit...

 (2625) – Emil Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky
Emil Sutovsky is an Israeli chess Grandmaster. He is one of the several top chess grandmasters who were born in Baku, Azerbaijan .-Successes:...

 (2595) [D85] Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 zt 1.2 1998:


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0-0 8.Nf3 Nxa4 9.Qxa4 c5 10.Rd1 Qb6 11.Rd2 Bd7 12.Qa3 cxd4 13.Nxd4 Qc7 14.Be2 e5 15.Rc2 Qd8 16.Nb5 Nc6 17.Nd6 Qb8 18.Bc4 Nd4 19.Bxd4 exd4 20.0-0 Be6 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Rfc1 Be5 23.Rc7 Bxd6 24.Qxd6 Rf7 25.Qxe6 1–0

Smbat Lputian
Smbat Lputian
Smbat Gariginovich Lputian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster. He was first at tournament in Berlin 1982, shared first at Athens 1983 and at Irkutsk 1983, first at Sarajevo 1985 and at Irkutsk 1986, shared first at Hastings 1986-87 and first at Dortmund 1988...

 (2598) – Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...

 (2746) [D85] Montecatini Terme
Montecatini Terme
Montecatini Terme is an Italian district of 21,095 inhabitants within the province of Pistoia in Tuscany. The most important center in Valdinievole...

 2000:


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4 e5 6.dxe5 Nc6 7.Nf3 Ndb4 8.Bg5 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Be6 10.Nc3 Bg7 11.a3 Nd5 12.e4 Nxc3+ 13.bxc3 Nxe5 14.Nxe5 Bxe5 15.Kc2 h6 16.Be3 0-0-0 17.f4 Bg7 18.Be2 Rhe8 19.Rhe1 Bd7 20.Bf3 Ba4+ 21.Kb2 Bc6 22.e5 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Kd7 24.h4 Ke6 25.h5 Kf5 26.Kc2 g5 27.Rg1 gxf4 28.Bxf4 Bxe5 29.Bxh6 Bf6 30.Rad1 Rxd1 31.Rxd1 Rh8 32.Be3 Rxh5 33.Rd7 Be5 34.Rxf7+ Ke6 35.Rf8 Bd6 36.Ra8 a5 37.a4 b6 38.Re8+ Kd5 39.Re4 Rh3 40.Bf4 Rxf3 41.Rd4+ Kc5 42.Bxd6+ cxd6 43.Kb3 d5 44.Rh4 ½–½

Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi
Bu Xiangzhi is a Chinese chess grandmaster. In 1999, he became China's 10th Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 10 months, 13 days, at the time the youngest in history. In April 2008, Bu and Ni Hua became the second and third Chinese players to pass the 2700 Elo rating line, after Wang Yue...

 (2607) – Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Among Indians, he is second, after Viswanathan Anand, No. 6 in Asia & ranked 56th in the world in FIDE rating as on September 2011....

 (2657) [D85] Dos Hermanas
Dos Hermanas
Dos Hermanas is a Spanish city south of Seville in Andalusia, with a population of 125,086 as of 2010.The city's name, which means "two sisters", dates from its founding in 1248 by King Ferdinand III of Castile and honours the sisters of Gonzalo Nazareno, one of the king's principal military...

 Internet Chess Club
Internet Chess Club
The Internet Chess Club is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC currently has over 30,000 subscribing members...

 2005:


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4 e5 6.dxe5 Nc6 7.a3 Nxe5 8.e4 Nb6 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.Bg5+ Be7 11.0-0-0+ Ke8 12.Bf4 Bd6 13.Nxb6 axb6 14.Kc2 Bd7 15.Bxe5 Bxe5 16.Nf3 Bf6 17.Bc4 Ba4+ 18.Bb3 Bc6 19.Bd5 Ke7 20.e5 Bg7 21.Bxc6 bxc6 22.Nd4 c5 23.Nc6+ Ke6 24.f4 Ra4 25.g3 b5 26.Rhe1 Rha8 27.Nd8+ Ke7 28.e6 f5 29.Rd7+ 1–0

Igor Lysyj
Igor Lysyj
Igor Lysyj is a Russian chess grandmaster.In 2006 he tied for first place, with Roman Ovetchkin of Russia, in the Zudov Memorial. he tied for 1st-8th with Sergey Volkov, Dmitry Bocharov, Aleksandr Rakhmanov, Valerij Popov, Denis Khismatullin, Dmitry Andreikin and Dmitry Kokarev in the Voronezh...

 (2590) – Alexander Morozevich
Alexander Morozevich
Alexander Morozevich is a Russian chess Grandmaster. In the November 2011 FIDE list, he had an Elo rating of 2762, making him the 9th-highest rated player in the world, although he has previously ranked as high as second, in the July 2008 list....

 (2762) [D85] TCh–RUS
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...

 2007:


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4 Bg7 6.e4 Nb6 7.Be3 0-0 8.Nf3 Bg4 9.Be2 Nxa4 10.Qxa4 c5 11.dxc5 Bxb2 12.Rb1 Bc3+ 13.Nd2 Bxd2+ 14.Bxd2 Bxe2 15.Kxe2 Nc6 16.Be3 Qc7 17.g3 Rad8 18.Rhd1 Qc8 19.Rxd8 Rxd8 20.Rd1 Rxd1 21.Qxd1 Qg4+ 22.f3 Qh3 23.Bf2 Qxh2 24.Qd7 Kg7 25.Qxb7 Nd4+ 26.Ke3 e5 27.Qe7 Qh5 28.g4 Qh2 29.Kd3 Ne6 30.Be3 Qxa2 31.g5 Qb3+ 32.Kd2 Qb2+ 33.Kd3 a5 34.c6 Qb5+ 35.Kd2 a4 36.f4 Qb2+ 37.Kd1 exf4 38.Bc1 Qd4+ 39.Ke1 Qxe4+ 40.Kd1 Qf3+ 41.Ke1 Qc3+ 42.Kd1 f3 43.Bd2 Qa1+ 44.Kc2 f2 0–1

Modified versions

There are also modified versions of Nadanian's idea.
  • 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Na4 – Improved Nadanian or Deferred Nadanian
  • 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nf6 4.0-0 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Na5 – Reversed Nadanian
  • 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.f3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Na4 – Neo-Nadanian

External links

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