Grünfeld Defence, Nadanian Variation

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Moves

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Na4

ECO

D85

Origin

Chess Informant 67 (1996)

Named after

Ashot Nadanian

Parent

Grünfeld Defence

Synonym(s)

Nadanian Attack

The Nadanian Variation (sometimes called the Nadanian Attack) of the Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:

The Nadanian Variation is classified in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) with the code D85.

The variation is named after the Armenian International Master Ashot Nadanian, who first employed it in 1996. His analysis was published in the 67th volume of Chess Informant.

The birth of the variation has caused major ripples in the chess world. One of the world's most authoritative chess editions New in Chess Yearbook printed on the front cover of the 45th volume the following: "A Revolution in the Gruenfeld: 5.Na4!?!". Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson 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 Grandmaster Igor Zaitsev wrote in the Russian chess magazine 64:

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.

White's fifth move is overprotecting the key c5-square in the Grünfeld Defence, thus aspires to prevent an attack on the pawn centre by c7–c5. The extravagancy of White's idea is that they break at once two opening principles: avoid moving the same piece twice, and avoid placing a knight 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 back, as Black too will play an already developed piece (knight on d5).

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