The Powerful Catalan: A Complete Repertoire for White

The Powerful Catalan

The Catalan is one of the most respected weapons in modern chess: White fianchettoes the king’s bishop and uses its long-range pressure on the a8–h1 diagonal to squeeze Black for the entire game. It is a favourite of elite strategists like Kramnik and Anand precisely because it combines rock-solid safety with lasting, unpleasant pressure. In this book Victor Bologan turns it into a complete White repertoire.

Bologan covers everything Black can try, including the attempts to dodge the Catalan by steering toward the Queen’s Indian or Tarrasch structures. The book is classically organised — starting with the rarer sidelines and building toward the most important main lines, such as the critical Open Catalan where Black grabs the c4-pawn and White plays for long-term compensation.

Throughout, the recommendations are backed by original analysis of recent tournament games and explained with the clarity Bologan is known for, so you grasp the recurring plans — the pressure on the queenside, the central breaks, the typical endgames — rather than just memorising moves.

A complete, ambitious Catalan repertoire for club players and above who want a sound but genuinely pressing way to play for the advantage with White after 1.d4.