A Practical Repertoire against the Grunfeld — GM Valery Kazakouski & GM Pier Luigi Basso
One plan, ten chapters
Preparing against the Grunfeld normally means preparing against several different lines at once. Black's pressure on the white centre can arrive from ...Na5, ...b6, ...Qc7, ...e6, ...Bd7 or ...Bg4, and the standard solution is a separate scheme for each — one more plan to hold in your head at the board.
A Practical Repertoire against the Grunfeld by GM Valery Kazakouski and GM Pier Luigi Basso is built on the opposite principle. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7, the authors recommend 7.Bc4, and from there a single aggressive blueprint runs through every line: Ne2, castle, Be3, Rb1, and the f4-f5 pawn storm. Ten chapters, one huge centre, and the same set of ideas in each of them.
That is the practical argument of the course. You are not memorising ten independent theoretical blocks; you are learning one plan and ten ways of carrying it out — the kind of preparation that works when the clock is running.
Why 7.Bc4
Kazakouski calls it the most ambitious way to fight for an advantage against this opening, and he is open about the character of the choice. White takes the full centre with c3, d4 and e4, places the bishop on the diagonal it has been waiting for since the start, and invites Black to demonstrate that the structure is fragile. With the modern plans presented here, it almost never is.
Black throws everything at the centre with ...c5 and ...Nc6. White answers every version of that pressure with the same blueprint, converting it into a lasting initiative and reaching positions Black is genuinely reluctant to defend.
The main tabiya arrives after 7...c5 8.Ne2 O-O 9.O-O Nc6 10.Be3, and the course is ready for each of Black's setups from there. The main continuation is 10...Bg4, pinning the knight and piling up on the centre; the critical moment comes after 11.f3 Na5 12.Bxf7+ Rxf7 13.fxg4, and Chapter 4 is devoted to it.
The authors
Kazakouski supplies the repertoire and the reasoning; Basso brings the practical filter familiar from his other work — lines chosen so that the resulting middlegames can be played on understanding rather than recall.
They previously produced the Anti-Reti System — 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nd7 for Black. That is a separate, standalone work rather than a companion volume — but it reflects the same instinct: identify the setup that poses the most awkward practical problems, then explain it plan by plan.
Map of the variations
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4
7...c5 8.Ne2 O-O 9.O-O Nc6 10.Be3 — the main tabiya
- 10...Bg4 11.f3 — the main line
- 11...Na5 12.Bxf7+ Rxf7 13.fxg4 → Chapter 4
- 11...cxd4 → Chapter 5
- 11...Bd7 → Chapter 6
- 10...Na5 11.Bd3 b6 → Chapter 1
- 10...b6 → Chapter 2
- 10...Qc7 (a favourite of Dominguez and Nepomniachtchi) → Chapter 3
- 10...Bd7 (a worse version for Black than 10...Bg4 11.f3 Bd7 — the pawn stays on f2) → Chapter 7
- 10...e6 11.dxc5 → Chapter 8
7...c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 cxd4 10.cxd4
- 10...b5 → Chapter 9
- 10...Qa5+ → Chapter 9
7...O-O 8.Ne2 Nc6 — the tricky knight move order → Chapter 10
What you get
- 10 chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
Start with the centre
If you have been looking for a way to meet the Grunfeld without conceding the initiative in the first ten moves, this repertoire gives you a single aggressive scheme and the understanding to apply it in every branch. Take the centre, invite the pressure, and let Black try to prove it is a weakness.
INTRODUCTION BY GM VALERY KAZAKOUSKI
SAMPLE CHAPTER
SAMPLE VIDEO