Catalan opening with Ne5
Free grandmaster lecture by GM Henrik Danielsen
The Catalan is a chess opening which can be considered to be White adopting a mixture of the Queen’s Gambit and Réti Opening: White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2, though the opening can arise from a large number of move orders.
GM Henrik Danielsen takes a look at a common position played by top players including Vladimir Kramnik 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4, at this moment popular is Qc2 for white, however an interesting option is Ne5. If black does not know the theory in details, it is easy for white to get advantage.
The Catalan opening with Ne5 is a four parts free grandmaster lecture (two more will be published tomorrow), enjoy the videos! More videos and free lessons can be found at the video section.
Catalan opening Ne5, part 1
Catalan opening Ne5, part 2
Excellent opening.