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At the beginning of the year I realised that one of the critical Catalan main lines had not been properly covered so this month I decided to rectify this. Curiously enough, when I was about to send this update, Vishy Anand used the Catalan as his main weapon in the World Championship Match against Veselin Topalov, copying Vladimir Kramnik's rather unpleasant opening choice from the famous Elista 2006 match. He has already scored two nice victories with the white pieces so the Catalan will certainly feature in the next update, too...!

Download PGN of April '10 1 d4 d5 games


The Catalan [E04]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c5 6. O-O Nc6 7. Ne5:

Romanishin - Berczes: The departure from the main line which Black used in this game is not fully equalising but one of the main Catalan experts Oleg Romanishin failed to gain maximum benefit from the comfortable ending.

Romanishin - Naiditsch: This time it was Oleg Romanishin who deviated from the main line. His choice gives White typically sufficient compensation for the pawn but probably not more than that. Yet Black still has to be accurate in defence and the way Arkady Naiditsch went in this game does not seem to be the best.

Postny - Wirig: Black has many possible deviations from the main lines and some of them, despite looking rather dubious, cannot be easily refuted, as practice shows. However, in this game Evgeny Postny's determined play cast doubt upon one such side line.

Ivanchuk - Leko: Peter Leko chose a somewhat passive but rather solid approach and step by step neutralised his opponent's pressure. However, White can still look for some more promising options...

Teske - L'Ami: Henrik Teske tried another option to give Black problems in the line which has just been considered in the game Ivanchuk - Leko/Mukachevo (m/3) rapid 2009, 11. Bf4:

However, Erwin L'Ami reacted to his opponent's later novelty very well and even got chances to grab the advantage.

Beliavsky - Pavasovic: White's order of moves might give Black some extra possibilities. For example, sometimes he can manage without ...Bc8-d7.

Svidler - Naiditsch: At the last FIDE World Cup Peter Svidler and Arkady Naiditsch had a theoretical dispute in one of the main lines:

At first sight White's chances seem preferable with two rooks vs queen but in reality he failed to activate his forces and scored only half a point in two games...

Sasikiran - Bacrot: Krishnan Sasikiran introduced a novelty here, which helped him to maintain a slight edge. However, Etienne Bacrot defended rather comfortably - Black never seemed to face any serious problems...

Wang Yue - Xiu Deshun: Wang Yue came up with a rare but rather interesting continuation and quickly achieved a promising position. However, Black could have certainly made White's task to maintain the advantage more difficult.



See you next month, Ruslan

 

If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.