Ideas behind the Grünfeld defense I started a game (with the black pieces) where I have the possibilty to play the Grünfeld that I never played before.


  1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5


I want to know what's the main idea behind it, especially for black, since I heard that it could lead to sharp positions and complications (even Kasparov had a hard time playing it against Karpov)
The main idea behind the Grünfeld is that Black momentarily concedes the center to White, only to attack it later.

For example, in the Exchange variation, White often gets a pawn center (c3, d4, e4) while Black will put it under pressure (especially aimed at the white d-pawn). Below is a diagram with a typical pawn structure for this variation, and some black pieces on squares where they can often be found.

[FEN "3r2k1/pp2ppbp/2n3p1/q1p5/3PP3/2P5/P4PPP/4K3 w - - 0 1"]