The back cover of this book describes the Grünfeld as “an opening of grand ideas, which need to be understood well in order to get to grips with the theory and handle the resulting positions.” As with other titles in the Chess Explained series, this book presents twenty-five deeply annotated games in which the author tries to convey the basic principles and theory of a particular opening.
In taking on the Grünfeld, IM Bogdanov has a monumental task in that nowadays many novelties are introduced deep in the middlegame beyond move twenty, and even your average club player tends to be reasonably well-booked in the main lines. Thus, while the Grünfeld may be theoretically sound, it will require a fair bit of memorization to become adept at this aggressive counter attacking opening.
In fact, the chapter on the highly theoretical Rb1 Exchange main line is contributed by GM Viacheslav Eingorn, who was a pioneer of this variation. The reader can also take comfort in the fact that IM Bogdanov happens to be one of Eingorn’s seconds, so rest assured that this book is written by a Grünfeld specialist.
Download a pdf file with a sample from the book.