Catalan opening
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Is catalan more difficult to play than queens gambit. I want to try it out.
Not really, keeping in mind that the Queen's Gambit is a difficult opening itself.
The Catalan has a reputation among the elites as being difficult to win with as white, often relying on a small endgame advantage you have to be very accurate to get a win from. This shouldn't be much of a concern for club players where there are plenty of sharp tactics you might unleash.
Yes, Catalan is more difficult to play correctly than Queen's Gambit.
One of the points is that in the Queen's Gambit Accepted white will usually recover the pawn with Bxc4, while in the Catalan that bishop is at g2.
Here is a game that Carlsen almost lost.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2122755
the Catalan has a lot of theory for White.
Black has 11 or 12 good variations if he accepts the pawn with dxc4. White can cut through a lot of them by playing the Queen check and Qxc4. But theoretically, it's not the best. And he still has a good game if he declines the pawn by playing Be7.
@4
"And he still has a good game if he declines the pawn by playing Be7."
++ Or Bb4+ Bd2 Be7
Mar 9, 2024
0
#6
chessterd5 wrote:
the Catalan has a lot of theory for White.
Black has 11 or 12 good variations if he accepts the pawn with dxc4. White can cut through a lot of them by playing the Queen check and Qxc4. But theoretically, it's not the best. And he still has a good game if he declines the pawn by playing Be7.
you say all this as if white doesn't have a whole load of theory in the Queen's gambit either, or that black doesn't have "11 or 12" good variations against the Queen's gambit.
B1ZMARK wrote:
chessterd5 wrote:
the Catalan has a lot of theory for White.
Black has 11 or 12 good variations if he accepts the pawn with dxc4. White can cut through a lot of them by playing the Queen check and Qxc4. But theoretically, it's not the best. And he still has a good game if he declines the pawn by playing Be7.
you say all this as if white doesn't have a whole load of theory in the Queen's gambit either, or that black doesn't have "11 or 12" good variations against the Queen's gambit.
No, the Queens Gambit has plenty of theory of its own. I was just making a comment on the Catalan based on personal experience.
Mar 10, 2024
0
#8
chessterd5 wrote:
B1ZMARK wrote:
chessterd5 wrote:
the Catalan has a lot of theory for White.
Black has 11 or 12 good variations if he accepts the pawn with dxc4. White can cut through a lot of them by playing the Queen check and Qxc4. But theoretically, it's not the best. And he still has a good game if he declines the pawn by playing Be7.
you say all this as if white doesn't have a whole load of theory in the Queen's gambit either, or that black doesn't have "11 or 12" good variations against the Queen's gambit.
No, the Queens Gambit has plenty of theory of its own. I was just making a comment on the Catalan based on personal experience.
Yeah, fair. It's why I stopped playing the Catalan anyways, lol