Some love for my favorite opening. I play it a lot in OTB games with greats results. I dont count how many games i won because my opponant didnt know what to do and lost by playing move who seems good, but were in fact, mistakes. Even in games i lost, i had a winning or at least very better positions.
Check out my video on 'the easiest way to start playing the catalan' I put out last wk, might help give you a start. Also what's your rating? Depending on that you might need a lot less theory than you think
If you mean Nbd2, then it comes basically down to whether you need to worry about c4 hanging. So usually if Nc3, you'll see b3 played first in many lines. But, if you need to play b3 to prep Nc3, then it can often be quicker to prepare e4 with Nbd2 - as in this case you don't really need to worry about c4 dropping. I think I discussed this a bit in the '20 ideas every catalan player must know' vid.
my problems with the catalan proper are honestly the early open catalan and the Bb4+ Lines. The early open is so much theory where I have the feeling that nowadays, where everyone has chessable, people know their lines and it is hard to get a favourable position. Honestly started to prefer the neo catalan with a catalan transposition into the mainline where white gets a safe slight edge. Also hated facing the slav proper, the Anglo Slav often is much sharper and the white player should be more familiar with it that black. Still love the Catalan though
Yeah I think if you know your stuff you can still do well, but I agree when you start facing people who are like 2000+ FIDE that becomes more common. But I think mixing up the move orders with something like the Neo-catalan as you said is a good approach to try and steer the game away from those more concrete lines.
I play the Catalan and it helped me get to ~ 1600 OTB but I wouldn’t say it’s the ~best~ opening to play under 2000. You get a lot of small advantages (like +1.5) that are hard for a club player to prosecute.
I think this is something you can learn to handle - the typical advantages you get from the opening. Also not sure I would say +1.5 is a small advantage haha. Most players would die to be getting that sort of advantage from the opening. Also U2000 is a broad category ofc. I don't think I would recommend the Catalan so much U1500, but I think above that it is more manageable in that range once you get above that hurdle of 1500.
How do you deal with sidelines? At the local chess club my opponents often play critical responses with early dxc4, they play a bit of theory and then they enter a sideline. The problem is, when I review the game afterwards, most of the time theres only one good plan for white which is always super complicated, I struggle a lot to find the right responses in these sidelines (Maybe I just need more experience playing the catalan idk)
Yeah so in my next vid I'm going to talk a bit about catalan move orders, so stay tuned for that. If you play d4 c4 move order, there are inevitably going to bemany different open catalan lines they can choose between - and there's no real shortcut to them. If you switch up the move order though you can avoid a lot of the trickiness they can throw at you, though.
Catalan Dub against a 1700 in classical: 1.d4-d5 2.c4-e6 3.Nf3-Nf6 4.g3-dxc4 5.Bg2-b5 6.a4-c6 7.Ne5-Nd5 8.0-0-Bb7 9.e4-Nb6? 10.axb5-cxb5 11.Qh5!-g6?? 12.Nxg6!! He played eight moves of theory and then immediately got a really bad position by moving the knight to the wrong square😂 He played on for a few moves but resigned shortly after
I'm really starting to like this opening, however someone like Naroditsky in the only video he made about the catalan said that this opening is really complicated, black has like 15 line after the first moves. He also said he knows 3% of the theory about it. It made me think a bit, maybe against "unprofessional" players it is more easy to play for white, but for example I'm struggling with the lines where black start to push all queen's side pawns, and they seem very natural moves. Have you thought about a complete course about it?
When you say "push all the queen side pawns" do you mean like play ...dxc4, and try hang on to the pawn with ...b5 etc? I would say though yeah in general against most club players you don't really need like that amazing knowledge of all the theory to get good results with catalan, but at master level its a different story and you really need to know your stuff. Yeah there is a course in the works :)
Not to be too biased, but I would recommend starting with my video '20 ideas every catalan player must know'. From there you'll be able to make much better use of any course or book you use on the opening. Maybe something like Keep it Simple 1.d4 for example on Chessable.
@@SamAsakaChess Thanks for the recommendation. What a coincidence that I have the KIS d4 course. I started to learn it years before. Do you think it’s good for a 1600 Lichess player?
is that 1600 blitz, rapid, classical? Regardless, I think the whole thing might be a bit much right now, go through the quickstarter and I think you'll be good - and then fill any gaps in along the way as needed.
I have a problem with 1.d4-Nf6 2.c4-e6. If I go Nf3 I allow the queens indian, where I struggle to find an interesting option (maybe someone has a tip?). If I go g3, I allow a weird benoni with g3 Bg2. Im not sure which one I prefer. There are some videos on the g3 Bg2 system though, I think by hangingpawns, I may switch to that to avoid falling asleep at the board
Personally, I prefer 3.Nf3 and allowing a queen's indian. But if I were to go 3.g3, I would probably respond to 3...c5 with 4.Nf3 instead of going for the fianchetto benoni - not a big fan of that. Main line is then 4...cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.Bg2 e5 - but there are some problems you can pose, and honestly a lot of people just chicken out and go like 4...Nc6, ...Be7 and develop, after which white gets a pretty nice edge usually.
I'm close to 2300 on lichess, but not crossed 2000 OTB yet. My problem with the Catalan is the theory. For example, did you ever find a good counter to the Stonewall setup mentioned in your ""20 ideas every Catalan player must know""? I've crushed some masters with a quick attack as black from this setup when they try to trade DSQ bishops with me with b3, and the clamp seems depressing.
I mean you kinda just have to play chess when the Stonewall comes on the board, it's not like it's that bad, maybe just a bit worse than the usual closed catalan. There's also like a few different positions where Black can play ...Ne4 and go stonewall, so its hard to give a definitive answer that applies to all of them. Also when you say the theory, you mean like the Open catalan lines for example?
I tend to play Reti with g3 fianchetto - which mostly overlaps with the Catalan starting position. How would you say the presence or lack of the d4 pawn but being a move ahead affect the game? Curious if I should convert :D cheers!
You could always use both, as they work together quite well in terms of transpositional possibilities. If you're going 1.Nf3 2.g3, then in general you're going to be giving Black more flexibility in terms of the setups they can go for, as opposed to something like 1.d4 2.c4 and then Nf3 g3 - but of course you also dodge a bunch of annoying lines Black can play after d4 c4 in the process. Also depends if you usually play d4 later, transposing into Catalan-ish positions at some point. I'd say give it a try though, see how you like it.
Sam, I have seen some games in the Catalan with h4-h5 and g4, specially when the f6 Knight is expelled via e5. So the center is closed. Could you go into these plans? At least with arrows "where to put the pieces ideas.
You mean like for example in the line with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c6 8.Nbd2 b6 9.e4 Bb7 10.e5 Ne8 11.cxd5 cxd5? This structure?
@@SamAsakaChess No, the one that they attack the kingside with h4-h5. Which conditions should be met for that attack kingside. Like in Dubov-Ding Liren or Carlsen-Sarana (Airthings 2023) adding Ng5. in the latter, Carlsen did not even castle short. So ideas about "where to put the White pieces"
@@Sandfox07 Yes, the Dubov line so to call it, exactly. Apparently the center becomes relatively closed, so White can play in the kingside. Black pieces are all in the queenside because that is where they are trying to have counterplay.
@@SamAsakaChess The English could also lead to Neo-Catalan positions, also if the reverse Sicilian is a problem then white could start with Nf3 and then play c4 at some point.
Yeah I mean I got nothing against the english, but because you're putting less direct pressure on Black from the beginning, they tend to be able to get away with more.
Yeah not completely wrong of an assessment. At his level though he probably wouldn't be facing many of the Open lines anyway though, so I'm not sure that's a huge concern. Also you can play 1.d4 2.Nf3 3.g3 move order and delay c4 to avoid some of that stuff.
Yeah I've never liked 1...e5 that much to be honest myself. I have a video on the Najdorf if you want to check that out: ruclips.net/video/DRC-eO1Y9VQ/видео.html
Kris Chan is an incredible name to have lol
You posted this just 1 hour before GothamChess posted a video on the Catalan (his first opening video in like over a year)
lol that's funny I didn't see that until you pointed it out
I'm a London player and I'll just sit here quietly.
Never played Catalan and never really played against it. Today almost everybody played it against me. I reached by far my max elo today.
0:43 WHO?!
Did i hear... Chris Chan??
My heart sank
@@agentagencja2799its kris chan. Spelled different than chris chan luckily
It's nice to see the opening theory that i don't normally get to see because of my opening choice
Yes I just got into the Catalan myself I need more videos just like this. Keep up the hard work!
Although im already 2000 chesscom in rapid blitz and bullet, these videos still help a lot
Some love for my favorite opening. I play it a lot in OTB games with greats results. I dont count how many games i won because my opponant didnt know what to do and lost by playing move who seems good, but were in fact, mistakes. Even in games i lost, i had a winning or at least very better positions.
Awesome to hear that dude. What's your rating btw?
This worked for me, I got to 2,000 a week ago with the Catalan as my main.
Awesome stuff dude
I want to learn the QG and Catalan but there is so much theory.
Check out my video on 'the easiest way to start playing the catalan' I put out last wk, might help give you a start. Also what's your rating? Depending on that you might need a lot less theory than you think
Great video. Learning Catalan & loving it so far.
I literally spam catallan as a white and have 65% win rate over 30 days
And now we wait for the recommendations as black vs d4 and e4! Good video
How to decide between Nd2 or Nc3 in the catalan?
this is a really good question
Can you clarify if you mean Nbd2 or Nfd2?
If you mean Nbd2, then it comes basically down to whether you need to worry about c4 hanging. So usually if Nc3, you'll see b3 played first in many lines. But, if you need to play b3 to prep Nc3, then it can often be quicker to prepare e4 with Nbd2 - as in this case you don't really need to worry about c4 dropping. I think I discussed this a bit in the '20 ideas every catalan player must know' vid.
i love the catalan
my problems with the catalan proper are honestly the early open catalan and the Bb4+ Lines. The early open is so much theory where I have the feeling that nowadays, where everyone has chessable, people know their lines and it is hard to get a favourable position. Honestly started to prefer the neo catalan with a catalan transposition into the mainline where white gets a safe slight edge. Also hated facing the slav proper, the Anglo Slav often is much sharper and the white player should be more familiar with it that black. Still love the Catalan though
Yeah I think if you know your stuff you can still do well, but I agree when you start facing people who are like 2000+ FIDE that becomes more common. But I think mixing up the move orders with something like the Neo-catalan as you said is a good approach to try and steer the game away from those more concrete lines.
Me as b6 main who loves to transpose to dutch positions against d4 and c4 bs 😊:
Great video!
Kris Chan???💀💀💀
The disclaimer 🥸
I play the Catalan and it helped me get to ~ 1600 OTB but I wouldn’t say it’s the ~best~ opening to play under 2000. You get a lot of small advantages (like +1.5) that are hard for a club player to prosecute.
I think this is something you can learn to handle - the typical advantages you get from the opening. Also not sure I would say +1.5 is a small advantage haha. Most players would die to be getting that sort of advantage from the opening.
Also U2000 is a broad category ofc. I don't think I would recommend the Catalan so much U1500, but I think above that it is more manageable in that range once you get above that hurdle of 1500.
How do you deal with sidelines? At the local chess club my opponents often play critical responses with early dxc4, they play a bit of theory and then they enter a sideline. The problem is, when I review the game afterwards, most of the time theres only one good plan for white which is always super complicated, I struggle a lot to find the right responses in these sidelines (Maybe I just need more experience playing the catalan idk)
Yeah so in my next vid I'm going to talk a bit about catalan move orders, so stay tuned for that. If you play d4 c4 move order, there are inevitably going to bemany different open catalan lines they can choose between - and there's no real shortcut to them. If you switch up the move order though you can avoid a lot of the trickiness they can throw at you, though.
bro is a Catalan main
With your videos I would leave the Reti and instead play a complete d4 and enter into the Catalan.
Thats why i play modern benoni
what's your rating?
benoni actually terrible if opponent knows what they doing
@@BrawlhallaBoyit’s sad that all the really interesting responses to 1. d4 are objectively bad.
@@refinedtalker69322000
@@AP0PT0SIS I like the nimzo indian bro
I only play the bongcloud opening. Best opening ever !
I agree!
Catalan Dub against a 1700 in classical:
1.d4-d5 2.c4-e6 3.Nf3-Nf6 4.g3-dxc4 5.Bg2-b5 6.a4-c6 7.Ne5-Nd5 8.0-0-Bb7 9.e4-Nb6? 10.axb5-cxb5 11.Qh5!-g6?? 12.Nxg6!!
He played eight moves of theory and then immediately got a really bad position by moving the knight to the wrong square😂
He played on for a few moves but resigned shortly after
Good stuff man, love to see it.
I’m stealing this 😮
@@kaijiesoo8588 Its definitely a good variation for white, if Black plays Nf6 instead of Nb6, d5! is a really good move there
@@SamAsakaChess Thank you 😄 Love your content, especially the catalan-related videos
I'm really starting to like this opening, however someone like Naroditsky in the only video he made about the catalan said that this opening is really complicated, black has like 15 line after the first moves. He also said he knows 3% of the theory about it. It made me think a bit, maybe against "unprofessional" players it is more easy to play for white, but for example I'm struggling with the lines where black start to push all queen's side pawns, and they seem very natural moves. Have you thought about a complete course about it?
When you say "push all the queen side pawns" do you mean like play ...dxc4, and try hang on to the pawn with ...b5 etc? I would say though yeah in general against most club players you don't really need like that amazing knowledge of all the theory to get good results with catalan, but at master level its a different story and you really need to know your stuff. Yeah there is a course in the works :)
Played the Catalan to improve by about 300 elo
Can you recommend material for learning the catalan?
@@fianchero Boris Avrukh Catalan repertoire
Not to be too biased, but I would recommend starting with my video '20 ideas every catalan player must know'. From there you'll be able to make much better use of any course or book you use on the opening. Maybe something like Keep it Simple 1.d4 for example on Chessable.
The Avrukh 1.d4 repertoire is good, but some bits are quite outdated now, and for most people it's just going to be a slog to get through.
@@SamAsakaChess Thanks for the recommendation. What a coincidence that I have the KIS d4 course. I started to learn it years before. Do you think it’s good for a 1600 Lichess player?
is that 1600 blitz, rapid, classical? Regardless, I think the whole thing might be a bit much right now, go through the quickstarter and I think you'll be good - and then fill any gaps in along the way as needed.
I have a problem with 1.d4-Nf6 2.c4-e6. If I go Nf3 I allow the queens indian, where I struggle to find an interesting option (maybe someone has a tip?). If I go g3, I allow a weird benoni with g3 Bg2. Im not sure which one I prefer. There are some videos on the g3 Bg2 system though, I think by hangingpawns, I may switch to that to avoid falling asleep at the board
Personally, I prefer 3.Nf3 and allowing a queen's indian. But if I were to go 3.g3, I would probably respond to 3...c5 with 4.Nf3 instead of going for the fianchetto benoni - not a big fan of that. Main line is then 4...cxd4 5.Nxd4 d5 6.Bg2 e5 - but there are some problems you can pose, and honestly a lot of people just chicken out and go like 4...Nc6, ...Be7 and develop, after which white gets a pretty nice edge usually.
The best opening to get to 2k is the opening of more tactics books. I'll say this much about the Catalan though...it ain't no Bird.
as someone who haven't tried catalan, yes, this brilliant opening is not for those braindead london player
I'm close to 2300 on lichess, but not crossed 2000 OTB yet. My problem with the Catalan is the theory. For example, did you ever find a good counter to the Stonewall setup mentioned in your ""20 ideas every Catalan player must know""? I've crushed some masters with a quick attack as black from this setup when they try to trade DSQ bishops with me with b3, and the clamp seems depressing.
I mean you kinda just have to play chess when the Stonewall comes on the board, it's not like it's that bad, maybe just a bit worse than the usual closed catalan. There's also like a few different positions where Black can play ...Ne4 and go stonewall, so its hard to give a definitive answer that applies to all of them.
Also when you say the theory, you mean like the Open catalan lines for example?
@@SamAsakaChess I guess that's fair. Yes, the open catalan. Did you see the game Ding--Dubov from the world blitz team ch. btw...?Thoughts?
I tend to play Reti with g3 fianchetto - which mostly overlaps with the Catalan starting position.
How would you say the presence or lack of the d4 pawn but being a move ahead affect the game?
Curious if I should convert :D cheers!
You could always use both, as they work together quite well in terms of transpositional possibilities. If you're going 1.Nf3 2.g3, then in general you're going to be giving Black more flexibility in terms of the setups they can go for, as opposed to something like 1.d4 2.c4 and then Nf3 g3 - but of course you also dodge a bunch of annoying lines Black can play after d4 c4 in the process. Also depends if you usually play d4 later, transposing into Catalan-ish positions at some point. I'd say give it a try though, see how you like it.
@@SamAsakaChess thanks!
I think I can also go Nf3 d4 and get the best of both worlds :D
Sam, I have seen some games in the Catalan with h4-h5 and g4, specially when the f6 Knight is expelled via e5. So the center is closed. Could you go into these plans? At least with arrows "where to put the pieces ideas.
You mean like for example in the line with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c6 8.Nbd2 b6 9.e4 Bb7 10.e5 Ne8 11.cxd5 cxd5? This structure?
@@SamAsakaChess No, the one that they attack the kingside with h4-h5. Which conditions should be met for that attack kingside. Like in Dubov-Ding Liren or Carlsen-Sarana (Airthings 2023) adding Ng5. in the latter, Carlsen did not even castle short. So ideas about "where to put the White pieces"
You mean like 1.d4-d5 2.c4-e6 3.Nf3-Nf6 4.g3-Bb4+ 5.Bd2-Be7 6.Bg2-0-0 7.Qc2-c6 8.h4-Nbd7 9.Nc3-dxc4 10.Rd1-b5 11.Ne5?
Thats some line Dubov played I guess
@@Sandfox07 Yes, the Dubov line so to call it, exactly. Apparently the center becomes relatively closed, so White can play in the kingside. Black pieces are all in the queenside because that is where they are trying to have counterplay.
I am happy to call myself a member of the Catalan Cult.
welcome to the club
Chanalan 💀
Do these reasons not apply to the English opening?
Sorta. I would say 2) does, but not as much 1)
@@SamAsakaChess The English could also lead to Neo-Catalan positions, also if the reverse Sicilian is a problem then white could start with Nf3 and then play c4 at some point.
Yeah I mean I got nothing against the english, but because you're putting less direct pressure on Black from the beginning, they tend to be able to get away with more.
1500 rapid lichess, don't study openings should I play this?
No, in catalan there are 9 ways black can try to keep the c4 pawn after d5 and if you don't want to memorise all this don't play the catalan
Maybe as you approach 1800 rapid I would start considering.
Yeah not completely wrong of an assessment. At his level though he probably wouldn't be facing many of the Open lines anyway though, so I'm not sure that's a huge concern. Also you can play 1.d4 2.Nf3 3.g3 move order and delay c4 to avoid some of that stuff.
What are your recommendations for black against 1.e4
I like the Caro-Kann personally, but depends on your style, rating, what you currently play
@@SamAsakaChess I play e5 but I feel like I’m always just slightly worse. I’m thinking about learning the Najdorf soon
Yeah I've never liked 1...e5 that much to be honest myself. I have a video on the Najdorf if you want to check that out: ruclips.net/video/DRC-eO1Y9VQ/видео.html