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The Powerful Catalan: A Complete Repertoire for White
The Catalan is a solid chess opening system which is popular with both masters and amateurs all over the world. It is a flexible opening and can be reached by different move orders. White fianchettos his king’s bishop to g2 with the strategic aim of exerting pressure on the long light-squared diagonal.
In this book top Grandmaster Victor Bologan presents a complete repertoire for White. He covers all of Black’s options as well as possible transpositions to other openings. With many original analyses, based on the most recent tournament praxis Bologan takes the reader by the hand with the accessible verbal explanations he is known for. He explains typical Catalan strategic plans as well as tactical themes.
Victor Bologan is one of the strongest grandmasters in the world. He won many tournaments, including the Aeroflot Open in Moscow and the Dortmund super-tournament. He has written influential and acclaimed chess opening bestsellers like “The Chebanenko Slav” and “The Rossolimo Sicilian”.
In this book top Grandmaster Victor Bologan presents a complete repertoire for White. He covers all of Black’s options as well as possible transpositions to other openings. With many original analyses, based on the most recent tournament praxis Bologan takes the reader by the hand with the accessible verbal explanations he is known for. He explains typical Catalan strategic plans as well as tactical themes.
Victor Bologan is one of the strongest grandmasters in the world. He won many tournaments, including the Aeroflot Open in Moscow and the Dortmund super-tournament. He has written influential and acclaimed chess opening bestsellers like “The Chebanenko Slav” and “The Rossolimo Sicilian”.
- GenresChess
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2012
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November 15, 2016
We have earlier acquainted ourselves with Moldovan Grandmaster Victor Bologan with his books The Rossolimo Sicilian and The Chebanenko Slav According to Bologan, both very good and popular books that not only covered the existing material on the respective openings, but also added a great deal of original analysis from a strong grandmaster who plays both openings himself with some regularity. The same can be said about the present book on the Catalan, which has been part of Bologan repertoire for years, but also been a mainstay in the repertoires of countless other top GM for instance Kaporv, Kasparov, Kramnik, Gelfand, Sosonko, Tchakhiev of the more recent ones, but also when going back in time you find Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik and Keres, just to mention some of the names that Bologan mentions in the Introduction, lists of both past and present masters are both much longer. It seemed at one point that all the top GMs who employed 1 d4 also had the Catalan as part of their repertoire. However, noone shone as brightly in the employment of the opening as Kramnik who has "achieved fantastic results in this opening. I very much like the way he handles the line in games against very strong opponents, who are excellently prepared for the Catalan. Even so, Vladimir manages to find small nuances and outplay his opponents all the same!", Bologan writes in the introduction.
It is indeed a powerful opening, and unless your opponent is very well-perepared, it can also become painful acquaintance for Black, who can quickly end up with a very undesirable and passive position.
The material in this volume has been split up as follows:
From the author (4 pages)
1 Queen's Indian Style (6 pages)
2 Tarrasch Style (12 pages)
3 The Triangle Set-Up (6 pages)
4 The Bishop Check (8 pages)
5 The Bishop Check with 5...Be7 (26 pages)
6 Opposing the Catalan Bishop (8 pages)
7 Playing for the Pawn (8 pages)
8 Indirectly Defending the Pawn (8 pages)
9 Attacking White's Centre (12 pages
10 Combing Defence and Attack (12 pages)
11 Bishop Check after 4...dxc4 (22 pages)
12 Developing the Knight (10 pages)
13 Keeping the Position Closed (18 pages)
14 Classical Variation (12 pages)
15 Classical Variation 10...Ra7 (20 pages)
16 Classical Variation 10...Be4 (20 pages)
17 Classical Variation 11...Qc8 (10 pages)
18 Classical Variation 11...Bb7 (18 pages)
Index of Names (6 pages)
Index of Variations (2 pages)
Many chapters, but that is what happens when you are piecing together a repertoire for one side in any kind of many opening, just ask Khalifman regarding the opening repertoire for Anand and how it came to be fourteen volumes...
To return to the introduction or "From the author" as it is called in this volume, Bologans covers a few items that I find worth highlighting here as well. In addition to the traditional way of reaching the Catalan main lines, Black can also use both the Queen’s Indian and the Tarrasch Defense in the Queen’s Gambit to enter the Catalan, and therefore these lines have been covered in this volume. Bologan mentions further that just because some lines are considered rare, doesn’t mean that they are bad variations. He also doles out some pieces of advice which are worth taking to heart. "If you use a computer in your preparations, never choose a move solely because the computer recommends it. You must try to understand and explain the move to yourself, understand why this move should be played just now, and why not something else_ What are the ideas behind the move, what plan is it following_ It is always useful to hold a conversation with yourself, and explain in words what the move intends. In this way, you will master the material better, and in addition, independent analytical work is very important for the development of your chess understanding."
In regards to the Catalan opening and the repertoire, Bologan writes "I would advise you not to think of the Catalan a an independent opening, unconnected ´with any other. If you wish to build a general repertoire, based on the fianchetto of the King’s Bishop, then you need to study a whole range of variations with the bishop on g2. This includes g2+g3 against the Benko Gambit, the King’s Indian, the Benoni and the Grünfeld." and toward the end of the introduction he even recommends Avrukh’s books Grandmaster Repertoire for White with 1 d2-d4 as worthy of further study.
To move over to the chess side of things, in a variation-sense, this book is very interesting and very direct. He opens with the coverage of the Queen’s Indian and Tarrasch Defense transposition options for Black, even delivering a solid path to an advantage for White against the Tarrasch.
In most lines, Bologan demonstrates a way to an edge for White, but in the later chapters where the theoretical main lines are up for debate, he acknowledges that it may not be that easy for White to gain an advantage, often covering all of White's alternatives, most leading nowhere or at the very best to an insignificant edge that none, but the very strongest of us will be able to exploit. However, for you to win a game doesn't necessarily require you to gain an advantage from the opening, but rather obtain a playable position that you hopefully understand to play better than your opponent. So by discussing all the theoretical options in those lines that objectively are even, you as a reader gain a better understanding of what you need to know to play these lines well.
In contrast to a lot of opening books these days, Bologan doesn't invest a lot of space or time to explain basic strategies and plans to the reader so that will prevent some players to get the full benefit from this book. A rating of around 2000 and upwards will at least be necessary to understand what is being discussed. But for that stronger audience, there is a lot to get and be gotten from this volume.
It is indeed a powerful opening, and unless your opponent is very well-perepared, it can also become painful acquaintance for Black, who can quickly end up with a very undesirable and passive position.
The material in this volume has been split up as follows:
From the author (4 pages)
1 Queen's Indian Style (6 pages)
2 Tarrasch Style (12 pages)
3 The Triangle Set-Up (6 pages)
4 The Bishop Check (8 pages)
5 The Bishop Check with 5...Be7 (26 pages)
6 Opposing the Catalan Bishop (8 pages)
7 Playing for the Pawn (8 pages)
8 Indirectly Defending the Pawn (8 pages)
9 Attacking White's Centre (12 pages
10 Combing Defence and Attack (12 pages)
11 Bishop Check after 4...dxc4 (22 pages)
12 Developing the Knight (10 pages)
13 Keeping the Position Closed (18 pages)
14 Classical Variation (12 pages)
15 Classical Variation 10...Ra7 (20 pages)
16 Classical Variation 10...Be4 (20 pages)
17 Classical Variation 11...Qc8 (10 pages)
18 Classical Variation 11...Bb7 (18 pages)
Index of Names (6 pages)
Index of Variations (2 pages)
Many chapters, but that is what happens when you are piecing together a repertoire for one side in any kind of many opening, just ask Khalifman regarding the opening repertoire for Anand and how it came to be fourteen volumes...
To return to the introduction or "From the author" as it is called in this volume, Bologans covers a few items that I find worth highlighting here as well. In addition to the traditional way of reaching the Catalan main lines, Black can also use both the Queen’s Indian and the Tarrasch Defense in the Queen’s Gambit to enter the Catalan, and therefore these lines have been covered in this volume. Bologan mentions further that just because some lines are considered rare, doesn’t mean that they are bad variations. He also doles out some pieces of advice which are worth taking to heart. "If you use a computer in your preparations, never choose a move solely because the computer recommends it. You must try to understand and explain the move to yourself, understand why this move should be played just now, and why not something else_ What are the ideas behind the move, what plan is it following_ It is always useful to hold a conversation with yourself, and explain in words what the move intends. In this way, you will master the material better, and in addition, independent analytical work is very important for the development of your chess understanding."
In regards to the Catalan opening and the repertoire, Bologan writes "I would advise you not to think of the Catalan a an independent opening, unconnected ´with any other. If you wish to build a general repertoire, based on the fianchetto of the King’s Bishop, then you need to study a whole range of variations with the bishop on g2. This includes g2+g3 against the Benko Gambit, the King’s Indian, the Benoni and the Grünfeld." and toward the end of the introduction he even recommends Avrukh’s books Grandmaster Repertoire for White with 1 d2-d4 as worthy of further study.
To move over to the chess side of things, in a variation-sense, this book is very interesting and very direct. He opens with the coverage of the Queen’s Indian and Tarrasch Defense transposition options for Black, even delivering a solid path to an advantage for White against the Tarrasch.
In most lines, Bologan demonstrates a way to an edge for White, but in the later chapters where the theoretical main lines are up for debate, he acknowledges that it may not be that easy for White to gain an advantage, often covering all of White's alternatives, most leading nowhere or at the very best to an insignificant edge that none, but the very strongest of us will be able to exploit. However, for you to win a game doesn't necessarily require you to gain an advantage from the opening, but rather obtain a playable position that you hopefully understand to play better than your opponent. So by discussing all the theoretical options in those lines that objectively are even, you as a reader gain a better understanding of what you need to know to play these lines well.
In contrast to a lot of opening books these days, Bologan doesn't invest a lot of space or time to explain basic strategies and plans to the reader so that will prevent some players to get the full benefit from this book. A rating of around 2000 and upwards will at least be necessary to understand what is being discussed. But for that stronger audience, there is a lot to get and be gotten from this volume.
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