Playing Black in the English Opening: Anglo-Indian Defense, Grünfeld Formation

By playing ...d5 early, you directly challenge White's centre pawn on c4. This is the hallmark of the Grünfeld approach: you allow White to build a broad pawn centre, then attack it with pieces and pawn breaks. In this specific position, your knight on f6 and the pawn on d5 already pressure the c4-pawn. If White captures on d5 (cxd5), you recapture with the knight and get comfortable development — your knight goes to d5, you'll fianchetto your king's bishop to g7, and Black's position is solid and active. The engine gives this position a +0.28 evaluation, a small edge for your opponent. That means you are slightly worse, but the margin is tiny — a well-played Grünfeld gives you full counterplay.

Stockfish's best move here is cxd5, capturing the pawn. The full line runs: 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.d4 Bg7. After this, Black has done everything right: the knight sits comfortably on d5, the bishop is fianchettoed on g7, and you're ready to castle. This is a standard Grünfeld Formation where Black's piece activity compensates for White's extra centre pawn. White's score from this position across 821 games is 51.3% — barely above average. For you as Black, that means roughly a 48.7% result, which is healthy for a position where the engine says you're slightly worse. If your opponent chooses this path, you've reached a familiar, well-known middlegame.

The Lichess database shows 3,452 games have reached this exact position. White wins 51.4% of the time, Black wins 44.7%, and draws are rare at just 3.9%. That's a solid practical score for Black — you're winning almost 45% of the games from a position the engine rates as slightly in White's favour. The most popular move by far is Bg2 (2,232 games, White scoring 52.1%), which fianchettoes the kingside bishop. This is White's natural developing move, and it doesn't immediately resolve the tension in the centre. After Bg2, you can continue with ...Bg7, ...0-0, and prepare either ...c5 or ...dxc4, depending on how White follows up. The other common moves — b3 (50.7% for White), d4 (53.7%), Nc3 (46.8%), and e3 (34.1%) — show that not every continuation is equally dangerous. In particular, e3 scores poorly for White, which matches the engine's verdict.

Two moves in this position are flagged as inaccuracies by the engine, and they're exactly the ones you want to see your opponent play. Nc3 is an inaccuracy that loses about 0.8 pawns — the engine says cxd5 was better. After 4.Nc3, you can simply capture on c4: 4...dxc4, winning a pawn. White may try to regain it with e4 or Na3, but your extra pawn and solid structure give you a clear edge. The other mistake is e3, which loses about 0.7 pawns. After 4.e3, again 4...dxc4 is strong. The e3 move blocks White's dark-squared bishop and does nothing to challenge the centre. If you see either of these moves as Black, you can confidently grab the pawn and expect a comfortable game.