1/4/2012 – It is one of the most solid openings for White and forms part of the large and strong fianchetto family in which White builds his strategy mainly around the bishop on g2. This DVD by GM Viktor Bologan covers all of Black’s replies to the Catalan, some of which can even transpose to other openings such as the Tarrasch System and the Queen’s Indian. Chess Cafe review by Carsten Hansen.
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By Carsten Hansen
The Catalan: A Complete Repertoire for White (DVD) by Victor Bologan,
ChessBase GmbH 2011, Running time: 5 hours 29 minutes, $36.95 (ChessCafe Price
$30.95)
The Catalan is a very solid opening for White, but it is strategically complicated.
Play can turn from quiet to tactically complicated in an instant and vice versa.
In the introduction, Bologan tells us that he is the perfect guide for presenting
this opening because he plays it himself and can even speak a few words in the
slightly obscure language that is Catalan.
The first thing to note is that Bologan has a very distinct Slavic accent
that is occasionally difficult to understand. It would seem to be for this reason
that he avoids long explanations of what is happening on the board and limits
himself to terse, safe statements.
The repertoire in itself is interesting and will undoubtedly provide some players
with ammunition in particular lines. However, the DVD is mainly aimed at players
rated below 2000 and it is not simplistic enough in its approach to be of any
great value for players of that strength, nor does it provide enough detail
in the variations to be of interest to players who are much stronger. As someone
who has played the Catalan Opening regularly, I found myself wanting to get
specifics in various lines, but almost every time Bologan stopped short of what
I would have wanted.
Overall, this is a decent DVD, but it could easily have been considerably better.
My assessment of this product: Uneven (three out of six
stars)
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