Catalan defense

The starting moves may be 1.

The Catalan Opening is a chess opening where White plays d4 followed by c4 and then fianchettoes, the White bishop on the g2 square. The opening usually follows the following sequence:. The Catalan Opening derived its name from Catalonia, an autonomous community in Spain. The opening was played frequently by leading players of the s and s, such as world champions Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine and Mikhail Botvinnik, as well as top grandmasters such as Salo Flohr, Paul Keres and Samuel Reshevsky. The Catalan came to prominence at the top level when both Garry Kasparov and Viktor Korchnoi played it in their Candidates Semifinal match in London in

Catalan defense

The Catalan Opening has been one of the most fashionable systems in recent years. White fianchettos the light-squared bishop and gains space on the queenside and the center with the pawns. This strategy puts Black under serious pressure and often leads to a risk-free advantage for White. Later he also successfully used it in the Tata Steel The opening can arise on the board via different move orders, one of the most common ones being 1. Nf3 Nf6 4. Instead, they slowly build a strong position and exert long-term pressure on Black. Often the evaluation of the arising positions depends on the strength of the light-squared bishop. Black needs to neutralize this piece to be able to finish the development of the queenside and equalize the game. Later Black can fianchetto their light-squared bishop and open up the center when everything is ready for that. White can calmly fianchetto their dark-squared bishop too, but the most popular strategy is to break in the center with e2-e4 until Black is ready for that. To prepare the pawn push, White usually plays Qc2 and Nbd2. In this position, Black often goes for 8…b6 9.

One of the possible ideas here is to play You can see the 5 Best Games on Catalan here.

The Catalan Opening is a 1. Instead of a direct kingside attack, White will aim for long-term positional pressure in the center and on Black's queenside. These positions can lead to small and nagging edges with very technical endgames. The Catalan usually begins 1. Nf3 Nf6 4. The main idea is White fianchettoing on the kingside after playing the standard queen pawn opening moves d4 and c4, while Black plays

Preview by GM Davorin Kuljasevic. The opening repertoire for Black against 1. Nf6 2. This is a reliable and flexible setup, suited for players who like balanced and active play in the center. The material will be divided into 3 major parts: The Catalan Opening after 3. Nf3 , and the Nimzo-Indian Defense after 3. Against each of these major openings, I will not provide just one defense for Black.

Catalan defense

The starting moves may be 1. Nf3 Nf6 4. The Catalan Opening is often considered to be a positional opening where white plays for long-term pressure rather than an immediate attack. White can now finally defend their loose c4 pawn with 7. Qc2, which also prepares a future e2-e4 central pawn break. After 7…Nbd7 8. Nbd2 b6 , white can break in the center right away with 9. White has tried slower set-ups such as 9.

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If the pawn is not kept, Black must find a way to fight on the diagonal, as in this line:. Manage consent. Bg2 c The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Email Us support thechessworld. Another Open Catalan line is 5…Nc6 , intending to meet 6. But keep in mind, that it gives them some additional options too. Alkmaar: New in Chess. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. The starting moves may be 1. The idea is to build positional pressure on Black as the game progresses and the use of the fianchettoed Bishop to do the same. What Is the Neo-Catalan?

The Catalan Opening is a 1. Instead of a direct kingside attack, White will aim for long-term positional pressure in the center and on Black's queenside.

White won a great game see in the viewer below. This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. Authority control databases : National Germany. White opens up their strong bishop, and it becomes hard for Black to complete the development of the queenside. If Black does that before taking on c4, White usually trades the pawns on d5 and gets a favorable position:. The Catalan: Move by Move by Neil McDonald covers the Catalan in detail, providing a detailed analysis of the opening, its variations, and how black could counter. It seems like Black gave White a tempo for free and helped to develop their dark-squared bishop. Magnus Carlsen began to employ the Catalan as his main opening in the late s, most notably using it in the second game of the World Chess Championship against Ian Nepomniachtchi , and used it extensively at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament Taking the pawn would allow for a discovered attack against the queen, so white usually declines to do so. The Powerful Catalan.