Ernst Grünfeld (1893-1962), Austrian chess player and author, specializing in opening theory, who, for a brief period, was one of the strongest chess players in the world.
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Dan Grunfeld (born 1984), American professional basketball player (son of Ernie Grunfeld)
Berthold Grünfeld (22 January 1932 – 20 August 2007) was a Norwegian psychiatrist, sexologist, and professor of social medicine at the University of Oslo.
Ernie Grunfeld's son, Dan, played for the Stanford University men's basketball team (2002–06), the German basketball bundesleague team EWE Baskets Oldenburg (2006–07), and Gandía BA, a professional basketball team in Spain.
Various famous players such as Swiss Grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, Chinese Super-grandmaster Bu Xiangzhi, American GM Walter Browne, Scottish GM Jonathan Rowson, Russian GM Andrei Kharlov, Israeli GM Vitali Golod and Croatian GM Bogdan Lalić have employed it at some time or another, though few have made it their main line against the Grünfeld Defence.