Anybody know a good book on the Grunfeld?

Im thinking about learning to play the Grunfeld as black. Anybody know any good books?

Hi @jamesstack

Here might be some helpful suggestions. 

A recent book by a highly respectable opening authority (Delchev) is The Safest Grunfeld Reloaded.

Avrukh is another opening book king, here's his most recent volume on the Grunfeld. I found it to be a concise, excellent book. Not overloaded with variations, but sound nonetheless. Here's his volume 1, as well.

Also elite trainer Jacob Aagard's Starting Out: The Grunfeld Defense may be of interest for someone of your level.

A palatable Grunfeld guide that's quite affordably priced is Chess Explained: The Grunfeld. Clear explanations of idea/plans for both colors.

There are obviously tons of more books & DVDs but these are my top picks as a titled player...

Please let me know if this helps!

2Bf41-0

Hey...thanks for the reply. Some of the books on the list are kind of old...has theory changed much over the years?  Or maybe that shouldnt really be an issue at my level. I've read a book on the caro Kann  Panov-Botivnik attack by Jacob Aagard and it really helped me understand things. So maybe what I'll do is start with his grunfeld book and maybe get the safest Grunfeld reloaded book later if I feel I need it.

Yes, this sounds like a good idea to me.

GM Larry Kaufman's (originator of Komodo chess engine) latest opening repertoire book...

Kaufman's New Repertoire for Black and White 

features the Grunfeld Defense for Black against 1.d4.

scroll to p.197 for intro to his Gruenfeld...

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9082a.pdf

Hi. As with all openings, you should aim to have one “basic” book dedicated to ideas and plans, which therefore never go old. As well as a second “repertoire” book dedicated to teach you lines and theory itself. You will need the first one to “understand” the opening/defense properly, and the second (only if) you want to compete in tournaments.

Having said that, and regarding specifically the Grünfled defense, you want to read first Jonathan Rowson’s “Understanding the Grünfeld” (Gambit, 1999). This widely recognized as the very best book for explaining the Grünfeld plans and ideas. Only if you are feeling greedy and want more basic books, then go and read Aagaard’s “Starting Out” book, which is more focused on teaching you the basic lines, peppered with tips and ideas/plans as you read on. But it’s not as easy to remember nor as entertaining as Rowson’s book.

After you’re done reading this basic material, then, move on to ONE repertoire book. You, as any other amateur out there, don’t need more than one repertoire book. I absolutely recommend here Alexander Delchev’s “The Safest Grünfeld Reloaded.” Make sure you get the “reloaded” version (dark red cover one, not the green one). This second edition is from mid-2019 and as of today (August 2020) is the most up-to-date theoretical book on the Grünfeld. But apart from this, which is not a minor point given the highly-theoretical nature of this defense, the book is a perfect repertoire book. It features a unique blend of raw theoretical (computer-tested) lines AND key ideas and plans at the same time. Each chapter has a three-prong format based on (1) a quick survey of the line, (2) a step-by-step approach that goes deeper in the theory, and (3) some exemplary (complete) games in that specific line.

Thus, armed with these two books (Rowson and Delchev) you can confidently start playing the Grünfeld after some months of study. Two caveats however. First, both books are pretty expensive, in comparison with others in the market. That is a fair indication of their true worth and value, though, in quality terms. Rowson’s book is largely out-of-print due to its old publication year (1999, by Gambit), and normally sold on Amazon at about $100 (ridiculous... I know). Buy you can always try checking it out from the library until you cama find an affordable used copy online. Delchev’s book is still in print (by the Bulgarian publisher Chess Stars), and is normally sold at around $34–$40 online. Expensive, but still affordable.

One final caveat is this: In order to play this defense properly (that is, well and with enjoyable success) other chess attributes are needed. I would only recommend the Grünfled to more seasoned tournament players, say at around 1800+ ELO players. Otherwise, it is possible to learn about this defense and yet fail to use it properly on the board. One should first understand the evolution of the history of chess itself, from the romantic era to the classical and then to the hypermodernist era, ending with our current era of “positional dynamism” (which is a blend of all prior styles and eras). The Grünfeld is par excellence a hypermoder defense “by birth” but which is played nowadays in a true “positional dynamic” style. Second, you would have to study much more that these two Grünfeld books to “get it.” You would have to read widely on “chess strategy dynamics“: For this I suggest reading Vlastimil Jansa’s chapter on the Grünfeld, in his “Dynamics of Chess Strategy” (Batsford, 2003); or Valeri Beim’s “How to Play Dynamic Chess” (Gambit, 2004); as well as watch and analyze many games by experts on this opening, such as a Kasparov and many other Czech players in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as modern players such as Svidker, MVL, and others.

I hope this helps. Good luck and enjoy!

Hey thanks for that detailed reply....a little update on my grunfeld adventures. I first became interested in the Grunfeld when looking for something I like to play against the London System. I normally play the Chigorin's queens gambit against 1. d4 but I discovered that it is difficult to make the game very interesting if white just plays super solid. My philosophy for playing with the black pieces is to play for the win by trying to make the position as complicated as possible. For example, against 1. e4 I play the french defence and against 2. Nc3 I will enter the Winawer poison pawn variation if my opponent is agreeable. Against 1. d4 I have played both the Leningrad dutch and the Kings Indian defence. I have tried the orthodox queens gambit declined before but haven't done that well with it. so I feel like a more dynamic style of play suits me better,....at least with black. With white I often play the rossolimo positional lines...so go figure, right? Anyway back to the Grunfeld....Looking for something against the London....I bought Kiril Georgiev's "fighting the London system" in which the author highly reccomended a grunfeld set up. I tried it out and won by attacking my opponesnts king in the center. My opponent chose a line in the London where white goes for a kingside attack starting with an early h4. I responded with an e5 pawn break that opened the center and gave me an attack.

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Encouraged by this success I bought Jacob Aagaard's "starting out" book and entered a thematic tournament with ICCF about the Grunfeld. These games are still going on so I shouldnt say much about them at this point, but there are a few things I can say. When I read the starting out book I felt like I understood what was going on in the position but when I played these games on the ICCF, there were some positions where I had no clue what was going on. Part of this is probably because I encountered some lines that were not discussed at all in the "starting out" book. Some of these I feel like Im doing okay in though. On the other side...even in the games that went into the lines that the "starting out" book discussed, I often found myself in situations that I didnt know what was going on. Maybe part of that is that Im the lowest rated player in the section at 1498(ICCF)...Most of the other players are rated above 2000...so maybe I really shouldnt be expecting to score a lot of points anyway.

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As a side note....I started playing in the G45+45 league on FICS. In these games you always know what color you will be playing ahead of time, and what I have discovered is that it is a lot easier to prepare to play with black than it is with white. So maybe I should focus more on understanding the openings I play as white than the black side of the Grunfeld.

Quality Chess has just published Playing the Grunfeld. It is a detailed repertoire book and the latest on Grunfeld theory.

That sounds good. I'm also playing in a Team 45+45 League on ICC. I know what you mean.

However, what you describe is exactly what happens when you only study openings/defenses in a line-by-line format. Read carefully my long message from before and try to incorporate what I said there. Understand that you must ALSO improve your chess general understanding, and not simply your opening knowledge. As the saying goes: "If you study openings you'll learn openings. If you study endgames, middle-game strategy and tactics, you'll learn chess!" It may sound counter-intuitive at first, but if you want to improve your opening play... focus on studying regular chess, rather than dedicating too much time to openings. I can guarantee you that 90% or more of chess players that d not make it pass 1500 USCF or ELO it's due in great measure by their mistakes in studying or reading chess. The priorities are all wrong. A simple glance at a regular club player's chess library at home already tells you where his/her priorities are. And they're rarely on endgame knowledge, middle-game, and game collections of world champions, etc. Overwhelmingly you'll see, instead, tons of opening books. "Winn with this..." "Crush your opponents with that..." and the like. That only generates an army of cannon-fodder for other players to crush in tournament game after game. They survive the opening... and then quickly (and bitterly) awaken to the reality that their middle-game and endgame technique sucks. The eternal cry: "I had an excellent position! I don't understand how I lost that game." It's the story of millions, in almost every tournament.

If you do not want to be one of those... or else stop being one... The solution is simple: focus on studying chess books and material that focuses on strategy and tactics, as well as endgames (both theoretical positions and practical ideas). Simply ask yourself this question: How many times in a game of chess will you make use of knowledge related to Rook and Pawn/s endgames? Well, statistically, in almost half of all your games. Similarly, how many times will you make use of knowledge about good Knight vs. bad Bishop? Or vice-versa? And how many times knowledge about properly occupying and exploiting open files? Or proper pawn play?   NOW... ask the opposite question: How many times will you play THAT specific variation of THAT opening? And even if your opponent enters into exactly your favorite line... what happens after the whole sequence of moves is over? What plans to follow? etc.

As you will see, the comparison is brutally simple. Spend your time studying only chess themes and issues, like pawn formations, pawn play, strategy and tactics, dynamics, etc. NOT openings. If you study opening, at least study "opening principles" first. There are plenty of books on opening principles and tips (not theory...) which will help you 10000% more than all the repertoire books in the world. Then, when you play basically any opening, you will be able to follow every move with a clear head and in full control of what is going on on the board. And that, which you said earlier ("I didn't know what was going on...") will not happen again.

True. True. And I do love Quality Chess books. However, the author is neither an established authority both in the chess world, nor in Grunfeld circles, as GM Alexander Delchev is. Whereas the author of the recent QC book, Alexey Kovalchuk, is not even an IM. It's a 2279 ELO-rated player. That means not that his book isn't good, but it certainly matters if the author is a seasoned GM, with more decades of experience in the Grunfeld than Kovalchuk has of age.

The point here was not to type in the latest Grunfeld book. But to recommend a good set of general and repertoire books for our friend here, who is rated 1600+/- here o chess.com.

My ratings are kind of all over the place. FICS high 1900s/low 2000 ICC mid 1700s, ICCF (1498), and USCF OTB 1690

I probably should note the books I normally study to improve my play in other phases of the game. For understanding isolated queen pawn play I go with"Understanding pawn play" by Drazen Marovic. For attacking chess I read "Mikhail Tal:life and games"by Mikhail Tal. and "Art of Attack" by Vladimir Vukovic. For middlegame startegy "The MiddleGame vol1-2" by Kramer and Euwe. For tactics some russian book called "1000 most fameous combinations in the history of chess" , "Queen Sacrifice" by Lakov NeishTadt. For endgame I study "practical rook endgames" by Mednis. and bits and pieces of Dvoretskys "endgame manual"....although I find it much more productive to study endgames with a titled player than from a book. When I have a lot of time I study Kasparov's "my great predecessors" series. Oh and I also study middle game and endgame positions with a titled player.

actually Im not sure I want to continue studying the Grunfeld....at least for now. If I played the Grunfeld..it would basically be a back up system to my usual Chigorin queens gambit. It would probably be better for me to work on understanding isolated queen pawn positions better since there is potential for those kinds of positions to come up in my games quite often.

Good luck!

thanks

I have played the Gruenfeld for many years but I haven't read any book. I learned it from Opening Manuals like Modern Chess Openings and games from databases. Specially from games of Kasparov and Svidler. It's really a very FUN opening.

https://www.chessable.com/courses/s/Grunfeld