About this opening
Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, Spassky Variation is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code D87. ECO group D (D00–D99)
covers closed games and semi-closed games beginning 1.d4 d5, covering the Queen's Gambit, Slav, Grünfeld and related queen-pawn structures. This particular variation is reached
after 16 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 O-O.
It belongs to the Grünfeld Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Exchange Variation → Spassky Variation line). The immediate parent line is Grünfeld Defense: Exchange Variation, transitioned via 8…O-O.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.d4 Nf6, 2.c4 g6, 3.Nc3 d5, 4.cxd5 Nxd5, 5.e4 Nxc3, 6.bxc3 Bg7. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of D87 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.