Th e Catalan
we are proud of our nicest wins but the main
reason for their inclusion is that we feel we
understand these games quite well. Not sur­
prisingly, our losses also feature.
One of Alexander's most brilliant victo­
ries, against a strong Hungarian Grandmas­
ter, did not find its way into the first draft of
the book, but our friend Jacob Aagaard in­
sisted that we include it, so here it is. It
should serve as a warning of the power of
the Catalan ...
Raetsky-Varga
Zurich 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 ttJf3 c6 4 g3 b5 5
.tg2 .tb7 6 0-0 e6 7 a4 a6 8 b3 cxb3 9
�xb3 ttJf6 1 0 J:td 1 ttJbd7 1 1 ttJe5 �b6
1 2 ttJc3 ttJxe5 1 3 dxe5 ttJd5
13...ttJg4!? is also possible. White has com­
pensation but it is not clear how much. The
following lengthy - and by no means forced
- fantasy line illustrates relevant themes: 14
ttJe4 ttJxe5 15 .i.f4 ttJc4 16 l:tac1 ttJa5 17
�c3 .l:!.d8 18 .i.e3 l:txdH 19 l:txdl c5! 20
.i.xc5 �c7 21 axb5 .i.xe4 22 .i.xe4 .i.xc5 23
l:tc1 rJ;;e7 24 �xc5+ �xc5 25 l:txc5 axb5 26
l:txb5 ttJc4 and Black maintains the balance.
1 4.txd5 ! ?
White parts with his good bishop t o fur­
ther the collective cause - namely the exploi­
tation of Black's tardy kingside development.
1 4 . . . exd5
14...cxd5 does not work because after 15
Jte3 �c7 16 axb5 .i.e7 17 bxa6 .i.xa6 18
�a4+ �d7 19 'iVxd7+ rJ;;xd7 20 ttJa4 White
wins the exchange.
1 5 axb5 axb5 1 6 .te3 �d8?
After this Black is, surprisingly, completely
outplayed. The problem is the advance e2-e4.
After the accurate 16...Jtc5 17 .i.xc5 'iVxc5
18 l:txa8+ Jtxa8 19 e4 d4! 20 ttJe2 d3! 21
'iVxd3 0-0 22 'iVd6 'iVc2 Black is doing fine.
1 7 .ta7 ! Wilc7 1 8 e4! b4
Black cannot avoid the deadly opening of
the centre. After 18...dxe4 19 ttJxe4 �xe5 20
�d3 �d5 21 'iVe3 �e6 22 �6! the end is
fast approaching.
1 9 exd5! bxc3 20 d6 �d7 2 1 .tc5! l!!.xa 1
21...l:tb8 22 l:tdbl g6 23 l:ta7 .i.g7 24
l:txb7 l:txb7 25 �xb7 'iVxb7 26 l:txb7 0-0 27
f4 c2 28 .i.e3 l:td8 29 l:tb2 and Black has a
hopeless task - 29 ...f6 30 e6! l:txd6 31 l:tb8+
and White wins.
22 ':xa 1 �d8 23 Wilxc3!?
Simple and safe, but 23 Jtb6+ rJ;;c8 24
Jtc7! is another way to end the game.
23 . . . h5 24 l:ra7 �c8 25 'iVa5 �b8 26
.tb6! ?
This does win, but a more direct route is
26 l:txb7+! �xb7 (26 ...rJ;;xb7 27 �a7+ rJ;;c8
28 �a8 mate) 27 �d8+ �c8 28 .i.a7+ rJ;;b7
29 �6+ rJ;;a8 30 d7! etc.
26 . . .txd6
. 27 exd6 �xd6 28 J:ta8 + !
Winning a piece.
28 . . .txa8
. 29 Wila7 + �c8 30 Wilxa8+
�d7 31 'iVxh8 c5 32 'iVd8 + �c6 33
Wilxd6 + �xd6 34 �f 1 �d5 35 �e2 g5
36 h3 g4 37 h4 1 -0
The Catalan is a dangerous weapon for
the positional player, and often we find our­
selves enjoying a lasting advantage in the
rniddlegame and endgame due to the
strength of the Catalan bishop, or the weak­
ness of c6 or c5 and so on. We hope you will
enjoy many such advantages, and that you
find this book useful.