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This update is a Catalan special with four of our games dedicated to this opening. With this update you'll also have a good basis for an extremely solid QGD repertoire as Black with coverage of the Lasker and Exchange Variations. Do you know what moves constitute the 'Ukrainian Variation' and the 'Wang Chen Variation'? I suggest you read below to find out!

Download PGN of August '15 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games

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Chigorin with 3.Nc3 [D07]

For the last 6 months, Richard Rapport's main defence to 1.d4 was the unusual Chigorin Defence - and indeed he played it twice in Biel, including in the game Navara - Rapport:

In the game Black used a very nice opening trick to equalise - however if White had avoided it he would have obtained an advantage. Despite Rapport holding his own in the theoretical battle in Biel, I've found improvements indicating a few different ways for White to obtain an advantage - and as a bonus I covered a few rare 2nd moves for Black so we never have to look at them again! Check out the notes for the details.



The Wang Chen Variation of the Catalan [D30]

Is it possible to fianchetto your king's bishop against the Catalan? Wang Chen seems to think so as he has almost exclusively met it with 4...g6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.0-0 0-0:

So it only seems fair to attach his name to this unusual system, unfortunately it was recently dealt with quite convincingly in Matlakov - Wang Chen with 7.Qc2! Nc6 8.Rd1 when Black considerably suffers from his absence of a pawn break. The classical advice of not combining ...g6 and ...e6 holds true after all!



QGD Exchange Variation with ...Nh5 [D35]

Somewhat surprisingly I had managed to neglect this system in my updates here, however with many strong players playing 8...h6 9.Bh4 Nh5 with White's queen on c2 and holding their own, I had to have a close look at Navara - Adams:

The Orthodox QGD players will be pleased to know that I haven't found any edge whatsoever for White - provided Black castles on the same side as White. In the game Adams even managed to win when Navara overstepped, although realistically this is more of a drawing weapon. True, White can avoid these systems by not playing Qc2, but those lines were already treated in the Archives. Keep the notes handy for your team's next match!



Anti-Meran with 11...h6 [D46]

Another coincidence with this month's update is that it features three of Gelfand's games, and in the first we'll see him obtain a very good position out of the opening in Ding Liren-Gelfand with the not so frequent 11...h6!? In a very well-known position:

The big trend is 11...Rc8 instead, but this move will appeal more to those not wishing to memorise as many sharp variations. However I think if White plays critically with 12.e4 e5 13.h3! he obtains an advantage - you'll have to check my extensive notes for the details there!



The Main Line Lasker with 9.Rc1 [D56]

Although there have been a lot of fairly recent GM games with the ever-solid Lasker QGD (7...Ne4), there weren't any of great theoretical significance, however Carlsen has recently been going for 10.Qc2 which is new to our site:

The point is that White will recapture on c4 with the queen to avoid Black's equalising plan of ...b6/...Bb7/...c5. This worked well in Carlsen - Aronian as White obtained a small, risk-free edge and should have won, but I've indicated how Black should play to maintain the balance, and also updated the old coverage after White's other tenth moves. Ultimately this line is as solid as ever and after studying the notes you'll appreciate why the Blackburne has taken over as the trendy option as White at least gets a game there.



The Ukranian Variation of the Catalan [E01]

The name for the 4...Bb4 5.Bd2 Bd6 Catalan stems from several Ukrainian GMs developing the early theory of this line with their games, however I've conducted a detailed analysis of it and my conclusion is that it's a great way to play for a win as Black! Recently a very theoretically significant game was played in this line, namely Gelfand - Ding Liren where White obtained an advantage by delaying Bg2 to prepare a quick e4:

However I found an improvement for Black that allows him to set up a decent Stonewall position and equalise - check the notes for the details on my novelty!

Incidentally my other game also features Gelfand, but on the Black side! In Inarkiev - Gelfand Black did go for the Stonewall approach with 9...Ne4:

Surprisingly no one has played White's strongest move, 10.Be3!, and you should study my extensive analyses of it in the notes to the game - but my verdict is that Black is OK here as well. I think this variation solves a practical problem many face against the Catalan - of getting winning chances without coming under too much positional pressure - and it will be interesting to see future attempts by White to fight for an advantage.


The 7.Ne5 Open Catalan [E06]

Our final game serves as an update of previous coverage of the 7.Ne5 Open Catalan, as a lot of high-level games have recently been played in this line. In Tomashevsky - Jakovenko (and also against Nakamura) Tomashevsky tried to revive the 11.Qc2 variation as a try for an edge:

However in this position his novelty 16.Qc4 didn't give him any edge and my conclusion is that Black is fine in this variation, as well as after the trendy 11.Na3. The practical advantage of these lines though is that they are quite economical, and White risks very little with either move - so you can achieve quite good results by using my analyses (not to mention the Archives) and keeping up with subsequent games.



Thanks for reading my update! Next month I'll feature games from a wide range of tournaments as July and August are some of the busiest months in the year as far as the number of strong tournaments are concerned! Until next time, Max

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