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Catalan Meets Janowski 3...a6 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 [D30]
The rise in popularity of the Catalan opening (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3), and more recently the Janowski Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6) begs a question; what happens when Catalan meets Janowski? There is one particularly relevant move order, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.g3, reaching a position that has not previously been covered at ChessPublishing.com:
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Does the early ...a6 give Black extra options or restrict them because he has committed himself? The answer, essentially, is that if he does not capture on c4 his ...a6 will be a poor use of time.
There are two major systems available to him, both of which resemble a normal 4...dxc4 Catalan but without Black's knight committed to f6. He can play (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.g3) 4...dxc4 5.Bg2 Nc6 or 4...dxc4 5.Bg2 b5. Both these approaches have the potential to transpose into normal Catalan lines should Black play a subsequent ...Nf6, with this month's selection of games I've tried to focus on moves which do not lead to a direct transposition.
In Can, E - Quesada Perez, L, White's 7.Qc2 is an attempt to avoid traditional approaches such as 7.e4 or 7.e3.
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The game doesn't break particularly new ground, though after 7...b5 8.b3 Nb4 White's 9.Qb2!? cxb3 10.Qxb3 makes a slight change from 9.Qd1 cxb3 10.Qxb3.
Christopher Yoo tries a different approach in his game against Jason Liang, 7.Be3 has been played before but not very much.
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The game seemed rather equal throughout except for some adventures towards the end, see Yoo, C - Liang, J.
Moving on to 4...dxc4 5.Bg2 b5:
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Kaasen, T - Saric, I was very nicely played by Black until a likely descent into time-trouble madness. Black eventually won, but not before White missed a forced checkmate!
The critical line of 5...b5 is surely 6.Ne5 c6 and now 7.0-0 (rather than Kaasen's 7.Nxc6). After 7...Bb7 White can choose how he sacrifices the pawn he has lost, either via 8.a4 Nf6 9.b3 or the immediate 8.b3:
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In both cases White obtains long term positional compensation, within the main game (Quintin Navarro, A - Garrido Outon, A ) I've given some typical examples.
Vienna 5...b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb4 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.Be3 Be7 10.a3 [D24]
A line which has recently become quite popular is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e4 b5!?, rather than 5...Bb4 or even 5...c5.
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As usual it's engines that are responsible for this discovery, old-timers would have automatically dismissed this line because of (5...b5) 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb5, recovering the pawn with a 'good game' because of the wedge on e5 and Black pawn weaknesses. It turns out to be far more complicated than that.
In the search for a reliable and fairly clear way of playing, White's attention has now centred upon (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e4 b5!?) 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxb4 Nb6 8.Be2 Nc6 9.Be3 Be7 10.a3, preventing Black's pieces from landing on b4 whilst preparing to strengthen his position with Qc2 and Rd1.:
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If Black castles short, White usually plays h2-h4, sometimes followed by a rook lift with Rh1-h3-g3.
Black has tried a plethora of approaches against this plan but they seem to fall into three main categories:
a) Castling long.
b) Castling short.
c) Delaying castling or avoiding it altogether.
I've presented a topical representation of all of these, Harsha, B - Girel, J illustrating the castling long plan, and featuring 18.g3 rather than the immediate 18.Bxb7+ (see Martirosyan, H - Pichot, A from Glenn Flear's October 2022 update.
Praggnanandhaa, R - Bersamina, P and Sarana, A - Korobov, A feature the castling short plan, and in Deac, B - Muradli, M Black doesn't castle at all.
Black certainly isn't short of possibilities, but he does seem to be on the back foot. I would expect there to be many more games in this line as the theory continues to clarify.
See you next month! Nigel
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