Hi, 

I was just reading a review of a book on the Grunfeld that gave the following line:


Delchev and Agrest claim,

"“It becomes obvious that White’s rook missed its best square – c1. The pawn centre also lost its flexibility and can be attacked now with f5, as in the event of 13. Bb5. Instead, Dumitrache-Vokarev, Bucharest 1998, went 13. Bd2 b6 14.Bb4. Here the thematic 14 … f5 took over the initiative: 15. Bd3 fxe4 16.Bxe4 Bb7 17.f3. Now the simple 17…Bf6 would have fixed Black’s edge. (My emphasis)

But compare the position to the following classic:


[Event "World Championship 27th"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1969.04.23"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Spassky, Boris V"]
[Black "Petrosian, Tigran V"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D41"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1969.04.14"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "23"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. e4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 O-O 11. Bc4 Nc6 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1! Bb7 14.
Rfe1 Rc8 15. d5 exd5 16. Bxd5 Na5 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. Qf5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Qc2 20. Qf4
Qxa2 21. d6 Rcd8 22. d7 Qc4 23. Qf5 h6 24. Rc1 Qa6 25. Rc7 b5 26. Nd4 Qb6 27.
Rc8 Nb7 28. Nc6 Nd6 29. Nxd8 Nxf5 30. Nc6 1-0

I can't find Spassky's comment about 13.Rad1, but it was not considered a natural square for the Rook before this game. Kasparov, in MGP vol 3 (p.286) says, "It is surprising that such a natural move as 13.Rad1, which immediately became standard, should have been an unexpected novelty, based on one of the longest opening preparations in Spassky's career...."

So, Rad1 is natural in this position, despite it having eluded most players before 1969. But in the prior position, the R "obviously" belonged on c1. 

Is it really so natural to play the R to c1 in the Grunfeld Exchange, and doesn't it also serve a very real purpose behind the aggressive d-pawn in these types of openings?