CatalanE00 – E09
White plays the Queen's Gambit with the king's bishop on g2 instead of d3 or e2, and everything follows from that. The bishop looks straight through d5 at b7, a8 and Black's whole queenside, so Black's natural plan of …dxc4 and …b5 to hold the pawn keeps running into a piece that was put there to punish exactly that. White does not defend c4 — the pawn is offered, and the queen collects it later from c2 or a4 while Black is still untangling. The two families are the Open Catalan, where Black takes on c4 and White spends a few moves winning it back with a freer game, and the Closed, where Black keeps the centre shut with …c6 and …b6 and White builds towards e4. What goes wrong is impatience: playing for the pawn with Qa4 before castling, or letting the g2-bishop be exchanged for nothing, which turns a lasting pressure into an equal endgame nobody wanted.
Played by
- Vladimir Kramnik — made the Catalan his main weapon with 1.d4 and won more top-level games with it than anyone
- Magnus Carlsen — won game 6 of the 2021 title match with it — the longest game ever played for the world championship
- Ding Liren — a Catalan player by temperament, whose quiet g3 systems carried him to the 2023 title
Model game
Kramnik – Anand, Corus, Wijk aan Zee 2007
Next: d4 — yours
