[Event ""] [White "Introduction"] [Black ""] [Site ""] [Round ""] [Annotator "Nigel Davies"] [Result "*"] [Date ""] [PlyCount "12"] {From Black's counterattacking options against 1 d4, the Gr?nfeld Defence is the most reputable. This can be most easily shown by the galaxy of stars who are playing it, contemporary exponents including Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Ding Lirin, Wesley So, Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Anish Giri, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Boris Gelfand, Vassily Ivanchuk, and many others. Going back in time it can also be found in the repertoires of many world champions including Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer, Vassily Smyslov, Mikhail Botvinnik, and Alexander Alekhine, not to mention the strongest player never to become World Champion, Viktor Korchnoi. --- What is the idea behind the Gr?nfeld? After} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 {it may at first look strange to play} d5 {because White can create a pawn centre with} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 {. Yet this centre is then immediately placed under attack with} Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 {followed by 7... c5, and Black can intensify this pressure with a subsequent ...Nc6. In other lines Black's g7-bishop also proves to be the most effective minor piece on the board, perhaps in part because White's 2 c4 made the d4-pawn just a tad more vulnerable. --- The following famous game was hailed as the ?Game of the Century? and provides a good illustration of the Gr?nfeld's counterattacking nature. Playing Black is the then 13-year-old Bobby Fischer, White was Donald Byrne who had won the US Championship just three years earlier (see the following game).} *