Anish Giri has published a video on his YouTube channel on 5th October 2026 introducing what he calls "a new opening against 1.d4": 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Nc3 a6!?. He played the line at the Olympiad against Bogdan-Daniel Deac, and credits his Dutch teammate Max Warmerdam for suggesting it.
Anish Giri's new repertoire on YouTube
What is new about it
Giri is clear that neither move is new on its own. He says ...a6 is known (he thinks it goes by the Janowski name) and ...Be7 is a known way to stop Bg5, "but combining the two is new." The idea of ...a6 is to hint at taking on c4 and following with ...b5, which encourages White to take on d5 and head for a Carlsbad pawn structure. By playing ...Be7 first, Black also keeps Bg5 ideas out of the picture.
The same setup can arise by other move orders. After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3, Black can play 3...a6 first and add ...Be7 later, and 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 a6 reaches the same structure. Giri notes it works against both 1.d4 and 1.c4.
The Olympiad game and the origin
Giri says Warmerdam, who was with the Dutch team as a second during the Olympiad, proposed the line for a different game, but he felt it was perfect for the game against Deac. He describes it as "pretty solid line, but also a early surprise". He did not win, but got a fine position and a big time advantage.
How Giri handles White's options
5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bf4 is the main line: Giri's file continues 6...Nf6 7.e3 Nh5 with Black playing against the bishop on f4.
5.g3 dxc4: with White's knight already committed to c3, Giri says it is "not simple for White". After 6.Bg2 Black covers the pawn with ...Nd7. He calls 6.Ne5 critical and likes the "very unusual" 6...Bf6.
5.e4 dxe4 6.Nxe4 Nf6: here the extra ...a6 turns out to be useful, for example after Bd3 Nc6 and Bc2, when Black can play ...b5. Giri says this is "not a big problem" for Black.
5.c5 is very committal and "not a problem" for Black, though the position is unclear. Deac played 5.e3 against him, and Giri equalized with ...Nf6 and ...c5.
If White goes for a Catalan with g3 first, Black can transpose to the regular ...Be7 Catalan.
A solid repertoire
Giri's pitch is a compact, solid repertoire: the Queen's Gambit Declined is the most solid pawn structure, and with pawns on d5 and a6 "you can just do whatever you want." He adds that the line is still very new and that he hopes it becomes popular. He has put the PGN in the video description, to be opened in ChessMonitor Studio, where he made the file in the video.
It's incredible how Anish is sharing high level content on YouTube for ambitious players! We hope that this video reaches a lot of serious players and they can take advantage of a world class player sharing his opening knowledge!
