Catalan 4...dxc4 5 Bg2 Nc6, 4...dxc4 5 Bg2 a6 E04, 6...dxc4 7 Qc2 a6 8 a4, 8 Qxc4 E05, by GM Scherbakov

This month's update covers the Catalan again - this opening is becoming really huge, though, of course, still not quite as big as the Sicilian... :)

Catalan 4...dxc4 5. Bg2 Nc6 [E04]

Ganguly - Panarin: Here White quickly exploited his opponent's mistakes, but the line still looks playable for Black:

though he certainly has to do some homework.

Fridman - Ernst: Provoking White's bishop to d2 has its points but it does not completely equalise:

even though Black eventually managed to hold the balance here.

Papaioannou - Moiseenko: Ioannis Papaioannou came up with a good novelty, 11.Qb5:

and showed excellent technique to exploit his opponent's inaccuracies.

Avrukh - Naiditsch: A rather risky-looking approach brought total success for Arkady Naiditsch:

who first solved his problems and then cleverly put his opponent under pressure.

Ju - Koneru: White chose a rather harmless line in this game and wasn't even able to hold the balance.

Leko - Aronian: Peter Leko came up with a rare old line:

but Levon Aronian had no problems equalising.

Carlsen - Aronian: Levon Aronian had no problems equalising against Magnus Carlsen here

- this approach has recently helped Black solve his problems in most cases.

Till 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.