Fight the Grünfeld with the Russian System

For the recording schedule and to arrange a training game visit my Patreon page: / hangingpawns
There you can also find extra daily content, in depth information on each daily video, as well as exercises and problems to solve.
The Russian System, pioneered by the Soviet grandmasters of the 20th century, is the positional approach to fighting the Grünfeld Defense. It gets the queen out early and thus supports white’s expanded center. But that comes at a cost! Black castles first and is up in development. White tries to compensate for that with his broad center.
Black has four different variations he could choose from against it. They all branch out on move 7 for black. The main line is the Hungarian Variation (a6), named after Peter Leko and his coach, Andras Adorjan, great Hungarian players. The three main sidelines are Nc6 (Byrne Variation), Na6 (Prins Variation), and Bg4, which is my personal favorite, the Smyslov Variation.
All four moves make sense. All four include allowing white to expand and trying to break up that broad structure later on. In most variations white will have a ruined structure and a king still stuck in the center, while black is going to have to deal with white’s e and d central pawns, which could become a menace after even a slight imprecision.
The Russian System is one of the main attacks against the Grünfeld Defense, and it should be known by all Grünfeld players! I hope the video helps. You can also find a training game in the variation which can broaden your understanding of the opening.
If you enjoy my content and want to contribute, you can support the channel via PayPal. Any help is greatly appreciated! www.paypal.me/...
#chess