Certain openings like the Sicilian and the King’s Indian are popular with both amateurs and professionals alike, but some systems are used almost exclusively by titled players. The Catalan is one such system that always fit the latter description, at least until recently when it became the subject of several books and CDs of which the latest is GM Nigel Davies’ PLAY THE CATALAN.
Davies, who has does extensive coaching at all levels through his company TigerChess, is known as an author who writes with skill for the amateur player, but with the Catalan he has selected an opening that isn’t played much by players below 2200 even less so 2000. So who is PLAY THE CATALAN aimed for? Davies writes that his goals for this book were to give a good overview of the Catalan and recommend specific ways of playing it. What he definitely did not intend to do was write a theoretical manual.
This approach is reflected in his bibliography where old classics like Larsen and Zeuthen’s ZOOM 0001: Zero Hour to the Operation of Opening Models and Neishtadt’s 2 volume series on the Catalan from the 1980s, are given pride of place. While Megabase 2008, TWIC and Chess Informant are all cited, the only book listed published after 1989 is Raetsky and Chetverik’s work on the Catalan published by Everyman in 2004. This leaves out quite a bit, including BEATING THE FLANK OPENINGS (1996) by Kotronias, WINNING WITH THE CATALAN (1997) by Dunnington, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT AND CATALAN FOR BLACK (2000) by Janjgava, DIE KATALANISCHE EROFFNUNG (2001) by Raetsky and Chetverik – quite a different book than the English language work by the two authors – A KATALAN FUTO TUZEREJE (2006) by Jozsef Horvath and CDs by Sosonko and Marin. Last and certainly not least, it doesn’t mention Boris Avrukh’s 1.d4 – volume one (2008). The latter covers other openings besides the Catalan but with 246 pages on 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 it is the present measuring stick for the opening. I think it is a good thing Avrukh’s book was not available to Davies when he was writing PLAY THE CATALAN as the result is a very personal guide to this opening.
Davies’s book, which is organized around 66 well-annotated games, touches at least a little bit on all things Catalan as can be seen from the table of contents.
Bibliography
Introduction
Move Orders
The Main Line
1 Main Line with 10.Bd2
2 Main Line with 10.Bf4 and Others
3 Main Line with 8.a4
4 Main Line with 7.Ne5 and Others
5 Main Line with 6.Qc2 and 6.Nc3
The Closed Catalan
6 Closed Catalan with 7.Qc2
7 Closed Catalan with 7.Nc3
8 Closed Catalan with 4...Bb4+
The Open Catalan
9 Open Catalan with 5...Bb4+
10 Open Catalan with 5...c5
11 Open Catalan with 5...Nc6
12 Open Catalan with 5...a6
13 Open Catalan with 5...b5 and Others
14 Open Catalan with 5.Qa4+
Index of Variations
Index of Complete Games
One important point Davies makes early on in his section on move orders, is that his experience with the traditional starting point for the Catalan – 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 (or 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 if you prefer) is relatively limited. Davies writes that he has generally reached the Catalan proper via less traditional methods including 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.c4 0-0 6.d4 where Black’s options have been cut down to 6…dxc4 and 6…Nbd7. Of course, White gives up things with this move order as well. Davies, in his THE DYNAMIC RETI (2004) advocates a Neo-Catalan where White delays d4 (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Qc2) while Horvath in his book gives several examples of games played by him beginning 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.b3. Why do these experienced GMs shy from the regular Catalan move order? Well, it might be because the opening is not always as quiet as it has a reputation to be. Consider the following.
Davies’ section on 5…b5 (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2) appears, quite appropriately, as Chapter 13. As he puts it, “The position gets completely randomized … I couldn’t find many recent examples of this line and the reason may be that nobody wants to roll the dice.”
It’s interesting to compare the coverage of Avrukh on 5…b5 with that of Davies as the latter feels that it is quite a problem for White but the former does not.
A. 9…f6 and Davies prefers 10.Nf3 and Avrukh 10.Ng4.
B. 9...Bb4 10.0–0 Bxc3 11.e4 Bxb2 (Avrukh also looks at 11...Nf6 which is not analyzed by Davies) and now Avrukh points out that 12.Bxb2 is best and not 12…exd5 as advocated by Davies on account of 12…Bxa1 13.Ba3 a5 14.Qg4 Qf6 15.Rxa1 Ra6!! Mozny-Bares, Corr. 2000).
Avrukh has done the better job here but I would give Davies credit for drawing the reader’s attention to this potentially dangerous line which can easily be forgotten amidst the more popular Black tries at move five.
Another place where the two authors differ is how White should respond to 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c6. Davies feels 6.a4 is necessary and Avrukh gives preference to 6.Ne5. The former misses a key game and gives 6.Ne5 b5 7.Nxc6 as dubious on account of 7…Qb6 but in fact White has 8.Na5! as played by Viktor Korchnoi in 2004. Avrukh analyses this continuation for over 6 pages.
Yet another place the two authors butt heads is after 5...Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Bxd2+ where Davies gives 7.Nbxd2 without comment but Avrukh considers it an inaccuracy because of 7.Qxd2 going so far as to give the move an exclamation mark. One interesting idea advocated by Davies is the gambit 6.Nbd2. This is one of several points throughout the book where he advocates attempts to spice things up. It’s hard to say how successful they would be against Peter Leko, but against mortals they look like good practical weapons.
Davies gives his nice win over Lukacs (Budapest 1993) as a model game for how to meet 5…Bd7 but overlooks a key improvement for Black noted by Avrukh. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bd7 6.Ne5 Bc6 7.Nxc6 Nxc6 8.0–0 Be7 9.e3 and now not 9…0-0 as played by Lukacs but 9…e5! as seen in a pair of games played in Hungary in 1994-95.
So far it might seem that PLAY THE CATALAN is a poor cousin to Avrukh’s book but this would not be a fair review of GM Davies work. He clearly did not intend his book to be a theoretical tome on the opening and does a much better job covering variations that are not super-theoretical. One very nice thing he does is offer several choices. For example, while Avrukh’s book focuses exclusively and exhaustively on 10.Bd2 (after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7), Davies not only covers that move but also 10.Bf4 and 10.Bg5 as well as earlier deviations such as 8.a4 and 6.Qc2 and 6.Nc3. Against 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 he not only examines Avrukh’s choice of 7.Qa4 but also 7.Ne5, 7.Na3 and the very practical 7.dxc5 (as Davies points out a good choice for players who don’t want to learn a lot of theory).
Davies continues his policy of an overview in favor of specialization in his coverage of the Closed Catalan. Like Avrukh he advocates avoiding committing White’s Queen Bishop (to b2) and King Rook (to d1) prematurely. This means 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c6 8.Nbd2 Bb7 9.e4. One place they differ is that after 9…Ba6 Avrukh focuses on 10.b3 while Davies prefers 10.e5 dispensing with b3 altogether as the Bishop develops along the c1-h6 diagonal.
One small detail overlooked by both authors is the treatment favored in the Catalan/Queen’s Indian by Tiviakov and the young GM Kovalyov (now representing Canada) where Black delays the development of his Queen Knight in the Closed Catalan by 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 7.Qc2 b6 8.Nbd2 Bb7 9.e4 and now 9…Na6 leaves …d7 free for the King Knight in some variation (instead of e8) and the threat of …Nb4 can be sometimes annoying. This is proving a hard nut to crack.
One other variation missing from both books (but very nicely dealt with in a free update on the Quality Chess website by GM Avrukh) is the variation 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 c6 5.Bg2 Nbd7 6.0-0 Bd6. This reverse Colle is not easy to break and is seen quite often at the amateur level.
PLAY THE CATALAN is full of useful practical advice. For example, Davies mentions the super fashionable 10.Bd2 (after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7) may be best theoretically but it is not really suitable for club players who have limited time to study. However playing over key games with 10.Bd2 can be very helpful for learning important plans in the Catalan that crop up in other variations.
This book can be recommended for all Catalan players except those using it at master level and above who intend it to be their primary resource for learning sharp variations after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3 dxc4.
