Grandmaster Repertoire 1a - The Catalan

Boris Avrukh's original 1.d4 books — published by Quality Chess in the late 2000s — became known as "The Opening Bible" among serious club players, and the phrase "to Avrukh" entered chess vocabulary to mean obtaining a comfortable opening advantage through one of his recommendations. Both books were translated into several languages.

This volume is not an update of those works. As Avrukh explains in his preface, six years of top-level practice and computer scrutiny have rendered enough of his original analysis obsolete that a complete reworking was necessary. The earlier two-volume set has been reorganised into four volumes (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B); this is the first. Avrukh works as a trainer for some of the world's top players and has incorporated the novelties and improvements developed through that work throughout.

The opening moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 define this book's scope. The main focus is the Catalan proper after 3...d5, covered across 16 chapters that address every significant defensive try Black can employ — from the Open Catalan (taking on c4 immediately) to the various closed systems. The Bogo-Indian (3...Bb4+) and Benoni structures arising from 3...c5 are covered in the remaining nine chapters, completing White's coverage of all Black responses in this move order.

This is an advanced text with dense concrete analysis. It rewards serious study rather than casual reading. Volume 1B covers the Queen's Gambit systems.