________

[rhb1kgW4]
[0p0WDp0p]
[WDWDphWD]
[DWDpDWDW]
[WDP)WDWD]
[DWDWDW)W]
[P)WDP)B)]
[$NGQIWHR]
W--------W

Introduction

The Catalan Opening was introduced

into tournament practice by Savielly
Tartakower at the Barcelona tourna
ment of 1929. The subtle development
of Whites bishop on g2 was not fully
appreciated at the time, but it was
gradually realized that the placement
ofthispiececouldmakeitdifficultfor
Black to successfully develop his
queenside, in particular his light
squaredbishop.
To explain exactly what I mean by
this, in the standard Queens Gambit
Declined (1 d4 d5 2 c4 e63c3f64
g5 e7 5 e3 bd7 6 f3 00) Black
usuallycapturesonc4andthenequal
izesinthecentrewithoneoftwopawn
levers, either ...c7c5 or ...e6e5. In the
Catalanthisplaniscomplicatedbythe
factthatthisprocedurerunstheriskof
making the bishop on g2 very strong,
and Black often fails to equalize even
after getting in the thrust ...c7c5. Its
worth looking at a game to illustrate
thispoint:

G.Kasparov-V.Korchnoi
London (7th matchgame) 1983

1 d4 f6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 g2 dxc4 5
f3 d7 6 c2 c5 7 0-0 c6 8 xc4
bd7 9 g5 c8 10 xf6 xf6 11 dxc5
xf3 12 xf3 xc5 13 b5+ d7 14
c3 xb5 15 xb5 e7 16 b4 xb4 17
xa7 c7 18 fc1

W________W
[WDWDWDW4]
[Hp4Wip0p]
[WDWDphWD]
[DWDWDWDW]
[WgWDWDWD]
[DWDWDB)W]
[PDWDP)W)]
[$W$WDWIW]
W--------W
Despite the innocuous appearance
ofthisposition,Blackisnowlosinghis

Play the Catalan

b7pawn. The rest, as they say, is his

tory.
18...d7 19 ab1 d2 20 c2 hd8 21
xb7 f8 22 c6 c7 23 bb2 d6 24
a4 e1 25 b1 d5 26 a8 c8 27
b7 c7 28 c4 e7 29 e5 a5 30
b5 g6 31 c6 d1+ 32 g2 e1 33
a5 e7 34 a6 xc6 35 xc6 xc6 36
xc6 a1 37 b8+ e7 38 b7+ d6
39 b5 c3 40 xf7 f6 41 d7+ c5
42 d3 h6 43 b7 a3 44 a7 d5 45 f3
d6 46 b6+ 1-0

Another plan for Black is when he

takes on c4 and then tries to hold the
pawn, which seems feasible with the
white bishop on g2. In this case White
usually builds up a mighty pawn cen
tre with e2e4, often just letting the
pawngoandrelyingondynamiccom
pensation. This kind of play usually
occurs after 4...dxc4; it can become
quite sharp and theres quite a bit of
theoryinvolved.FortunatelyWhitecan
avoid this if he wants to by adopting
an English or Rti type move order.
Thisisagreatboontoplayerswholike
the Catalan but dont want to burn
muchmidnightoil.

There is a third scenario in which

Black simply tries to strongpoint the
d5pawn and develop his queenside
pieces via ...c7c6,...bd7,...b7b6and
...c8b7.Thisisactuallyverycommon
amongst club players who are facing
the Catalan for the first time and de
cidethatbeingsensiblewillkeepthem
out of trouble. These lines are known
as Closed Variations (as opposed to
6

...d5xc4lineswhichareOpenVariations)
andarecoveredinChapters68.Whilst
being playable, Black certainly has to
knowwhathesdoinghere,andinmy
experienceheoftendoesntunlesshis
name happens to be Smbat Lputian or
RafaelVaganian.
Atclublevelpeopleusuallyanswer
Whites plan of e2e4 with ...d5xe4,
which can land them in a rather
cramped and horrid position. I will
take the liberty of showing you one of
my own games at this point which I
playedwhilepreparingthisbook.Itsa
good example of what youre likely to
faceinyourowngames:

N.Davies-M.Brown
Liverpool League 2009

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 f3 f6 4 g3 e7 5
g2 0-0 6 c2 bd7 7 0-0 c6 8 bd2
b6 9 e4 dxe4

W________W
[rDb1W4kD]
[0WDngp0p]
[W0pDphWD]
[DWDWDWDW]
[WDP)pDWD]
[DWDWDN)W]
[P)QHW)B)]
[$WGWDRIW]
W--------W
AsImentionedabove,Blackshould
probablynotdothis.ButatclublevelI
wager that this will be played almost
exclusively.

Introduction

10 xe4 xe4 11 xe4 b7 12 d1

c7 13 f4 d6 14 xd6 xd6 15 c5
c7 16 ac1 fd8 17 a3 h6 18 e3 e8
19 b4 a5 20 d2
Theknightisheadedford6.
20...axb4 21 axb4 bxc5 22 bxc5 f6 23
c4 a6 24 e5 e7 25 a1 d5 26
a3 b7 27 xa8+ xa8 28 a1 d8
29 d6 d7 30 e5 b7 31 xd5 exd5
32 b6 b8 33 xb8 1-0

Who has played the Catalan (be

sides Garry Kasparovandmyself,that
is)? Over the years a vast array of the
Worlds top players have understood
the potential of this opening and used
it to deadly effect. Amongst World
Champions you can find Catalan
games by Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily
Smyslov, Tigran Petrosian, Anatoly
Karpov and Vladimir Kramnik. And
the leading exponents include such
notables as Victor Korchnoi, Leonid
Stein, Bent Larsen, Alexander Be
liavsky, Vladimir Tukmakov, Boris
Gulko,LevAlburt,JonathanSpeelman,
Oleg Romanishin, Zoltan Ribli, Boris
Gelfand, Grigory Kaidanov, Yuri Ra
zuvaev and others. This is quite a
pedigreebyanystandards.
MyownrelationshipwiththeCata
lanblossomedinthe1990swhenitbe
came one of my main weapons as
White, and indeed the touchstone to
my gaining the Grandmaster title. I
was inspired to play it by the book
Zoom 001: Zero Hour to the Operation of
Opening Models by Bent Larsen and
Steffen Zeuthen, the authors offering
Catalantype positions as a means of

playing both Black and White. The

Catalan suited my then dynamic style
asIlikedtheinitiativeandwasntwor
ried about sacrificing the pawn on c4.
Even when I became less interested in
opening theory in the late 1990s, the
Catalanremainedoneofthemainstays
of my repertoire, though at this time I
started to avoid the sharpest lines
basedon4...dxc4andinsteadaimedto
reach aCatalanviaFlankOpeningsor
1d4f62f3e63g3.
My approach to writing this book
has been to try and give the reader a
good overview of the Catalan, whilst
recommendingspecificwaystoplayit.
InthiswayIhopetogivethereadera
decent understanding while getting
him or her up and running with it as
quicklyaspossible.Whilstmanyofthe
gamesareveryrecent,Ihavenottried
toproduceadefinitivesnapshotofcur
renttheory;indeed,suchabookwould
be outdated by the time it was pub
lished.InsteadIhavepresentedgames
and variations that I personally have
found interesting, in the hope that my
views and ideas will get the readers
owncreativejuicesflowing.

There are various ways in which

youmightusethisbook,eitherasread
ingmaterialorareferencesource.The
wayIdrecommendstudyingitistogo
throughthetextandmaingamesfairly
quickly, without getting bogged down
in each and every subvariation. Then,
as you start to get a feel for Catalan
positions (i.e.recognizethepatternsat
a subconscious level), you might want
7

Play the Catalan

to delve more into the nittygritty of

the lines youve decided to play and
search for new games in a database
programsuchasChessBase.
In this way your understanding of
thematerialwilltakeadynamic,living
andpersonalform,ratherthanjustget
ting my opinions on a secondhand

basis.Ifyoucandothisthenyouwont
just master the Catalan Opening, your
entirechessgamewillimprove.

NigelDavies
Southport,June2009
http://www.tigerchess.com/