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In volume 1 of his two-part Catalan repertoire, Dutch grandmaster Jan Werle, who reached his highest Elo rating of 2607 in 2009, looks at the Open Catalan – where Black plays …dxc4 early on.
The Catalan, an opening repertoire for life Vol.1 - Open Catalan
Dominate the Open Catalan: Unlock key strategies and dynamic plans for a lifetime repertoire!
The Catalan, an opening repertoire for life Vol.2 - Closed Catalan
Mastering piece setups in various pawn structures and transitioning to a dominant middlegame, this course equips you with the insight and flexibility to outmanoeuvre your opponents in the Closed Catalan.
The video course consists of two major parts:
Here, Black has a choice between different variations. There are players – for example, the author of this review 😉 – who like to postpone c2-c4 in order to avoid this theory-heavy complex. But that has other disadvantages and is not the topic here. I was impressed by Werle's very combative chess in Liverpool in 2008, when he won the EU Championships against strong competition. In line with this, he does not recommend "lazy lines". He meticulously searches for ways to put Black under pressure. Two examples:
One of the moves that has been hotly debated at the GM level is 5…a6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.e3 Rb8. The rook leaves the long diagonal, giving Black the option of playing …b5. Werle now follows the sharp main line for a long time, but brings a surprise on move 17:
The move 17.Qd4! (the exclamation mark was added by Werle) is not the engine's first choice and has only been played twice. However, it should catch most opponents off guard. Objectively, the black position remains okay. But in the endgame after 17...Qxd4 18.exd4 Nh6 19.g4 Black still has to find precise moves and White has nice positional compensation for the quality.
Example 2 is 5…c5 6.0-0 Nc6, one of the most solid answers to the Catalan that has been recommended in several black repertoire in recent years. It is likely to be difficult to achieve an objective advantage here as well, but how can you pose problems? Werle chooses the endgame after 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 c3 10.bxc3, and now perhaps 10…0-0 11.Nb3 Be7 12.Nfd4 Bd7, and here he analyses 13.Nb5!?
... which is only the third most common move, but has a 67.5% success rate for White. The knight has an eye on d6 and sometimes White will exchange the dark-squared bishops to put pressure on the dark squares.
The second big complex of the video course is 4...Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4
The classical main line against Catalan. It contains ideas "for one game", for example 7.Ne5! Jan Werle chooses the critical 7.Qc2. And in the main line 7...a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6, he opts for 10.Bg5.
White is willing to exchange the bishop and is aiming for a position with a stable space advantage. The aim is to squeeze for a long time and potentially develop play across the entire board.
The Dutch grandmaster also conveys various instructive middle game ideas in the course. Here are two excerpts from a game Giri-Vidit, showing Werle analysing the 10.Bg5 line:
18.h4! h4-h5 could create unease for Black on the b1-h7 diagonal, but the insertion of 18...g6 19.h5 g5 did not free Black from all troubles. Five moves later...
... Werle's compatriot Anish Giri, whom Werle repeatedly praises as an outstanding Catalan player, followed up with 25.e4! and 26.e5. Not only was the d6 square weak after that, but a possible attack on the king with the constricting e5 pawn is far more dangerous.
Instead of the classic 7...a6, in recent years Black players have also been exploring other avenues, such as 7...b6!?
If Black can play …Bb7 without hindrance, he'll have no problems. It's characteristic that Werle chooses the hardest reply and accepts the exchange sacrifice offered by Black: 8.Nf5 Qxd4 9.Lxa8 Qxe5. In fact Black scores well in this line, and Werle admits that the position is dangerous for White. But if White knows his stuff they can expect very good results, and according to Werle White is objectively better.
In view of practical games in which the side line 7...b6 can be played by the opponent as a surprise, I would have liked to see a solid back-up here. For example, the pragmatic 8.Bg5, which is played more often at GM level, and which prevents ...Bb7 tactically. However, Werle comes to the conclusion that accepting the exchange sacrifice is stronger, and objectively there is nothing wrong with his choice!
The material presented in the video course is very extensive overall. A nice idea by the Dutch Grandmaster is to end each chapter with a half-hour "summary" in which each chapter is touched on again. This is a great way to refresh your memory before an important tournament!
Conclusion:
In volume 1 of his Catalan repertoire, Jan Werle looks at the Open Catalan, i.e. playing with an early ...dxc4. The Dutch grandmaster tends to choose "tough", concrete variations to pose Black difficult problems. In 9 hours and 30 minutes of video time, he designs an ambitious main line repertoire. Such a repertoire requires a good deal of theoretical knowledge, but it is also extremely powerful. The course has made me want to play the Catalan more often again – even without deferred c2-c4!
The Catalan, an opening repertoire for life Vol.1 - Open Catalan
Dominate the Open Catalan: Unlock key strategies and dynamic plans for a lifetime repertoire!
The Catalan, an opening repertoire for life Vol.2 - Closed Catalan
Mastering piece setups in various pawn structures and transitioning to a dominant middlegame, this course equips you with the insight and flexibility to outmanoeuvre your opponents in the Closed Catalan.
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