Is The Grunfeld Solid?

     Kasparov lost game 2 to Kramnik in 2000 using the Grunfeld and now Anand
loses game 1 to Topalov in 2010.
     Is this defense solid enough for World Championship play?  Kramnik used
the Ruy Lopez Berlin to secure those draws against Kasparov in 2000.  Do
some defenses simply hold up at the highest level or is this just a coincidence?
     Are there some defenses that have stood the test of time at the World
Championships and some that have not?

personally, I've always hated on the Gruenfeld, and I was shocked by Anand's selection of it for this game.

I was surprised too.  Also, the source I used spelled it Grunfeld, but I have
seen several different spellings as well so I'm not sure which is correct.

Well, I just counted (almost certainly my count is off by a few games... I didn't double check or anything)... World championships games (including Fide Knockout World Championships, and the FIDE matches during the PCA divide like Karpov vs Timman...) and came up with: 

18 wins for white

3 wins for black

25 draws for black

Botvinnik played Grunfeld against Smyslov a bit, and of course Kasparov tested it extensively agaisnt Karpov. As a drawing weapon it seems to have been fair but for wins, ugh.

Both Fischer (though not in the match vs Spassky) and Kasparov played a good bit of Grunfeld. Looking at Kasparov's ho hum results against karpov with grunfeld, it's hard to understand why he kept going to it.

Those are some interesting statistics.

What about the Ruy Lopez Berlin that Kramnik used to get those draws?  I
wonder how it has fared in other World Championships.

That was before the computer era. 

Yep, I guess you're more likely to lose using the Grunfeld that defending with the Berlin Wall, even you're more likely to win. Also, I think Anand hadn't appeared suddenly in front of the board and decided to use Grunfeld so it can not be too toxic

what the matter with you and the Berlin ?

lmao same here. just someone saying the name of it gives me chills

ok ...to the OP or tonydal alot of the peoples seem to be surprised that Anand played the Grunfeld, so what should/does he have normally played , the KID ?

Black's score in various queenside openings in the World Championships:

Queen's Gambit Declined Orthodox 50%

Queen's Gambit Declined Tartakower 50%

Queen's Indian 50%

Dutch 46%

QGD Semi-Slav 43%

King's Indian 42%

Nimzo-Indian 39%

QGD Slav 38%

Gruenfeld 35%

QGD Semi-Tarrasch 35%

QGD Tarrasch 35%

Incidentally, the Ruy Lopez Berlin has only scored 41%.  Korchnoi, Lasker and Zukertort have all lost games with the Berlin.

to rigamagician yes but what I mean what does Anand normally played as black against d4 ?

Anand is a big fan of the Queen's Indian, and plays the Nimzo-Indian and Semi-Slav fairly often, but he ventured the Gruenfeld a fair bit in the 1990's and then again last year.

(Leningrad Dutch is my latest infatuation.) But I'm very surprised the Dutch has out-performed Nimzo-Indian. I'm kind of stunned Nimzo looks mediocre on that list.

     If the Grunfeld went 3-18-25(wins-losses-draws) how could that be 35% as
stated in a later post?

(3+12.5)/46 = .35 (or close to it)

edit: it's more like 34 from those numbers, maybe he's counting slightly different ones.

with some research is it true that Anand is a e4 opener ?

Anand definitely uses e4 far more than any other opening.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer?pid=12088&side=white

My database has +3 =19 -14 for the Gruenfeld for World Championship matches.  I've included games from the final rounds of the FIDE rapid knockout championships of 1999-2002, but perhaps the earlier poster was including those tournaments as a whole.