Daniil Dubov’s ALMOST Immortal - Daniil Dubov vs David Anton Guijarro (2020)

The Catalan Opening is a chess opening where 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, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings lists codes E01–E09 for lines with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2; other lines are part of E00.

In the Catalan, White adopts a combination of the Queen’s Gambit and Réti Opening. White combines the space-gaining moves d4 and c4 with g3, preparing to fianchetto the king’s bishop. This places pressure mainly on the queenside while hoping to keep the white king safe in the long-term. The c4-pawn can become vulnerable, however, and White might have to sacrifice a pawn.

Black has two main approaches to play against the Catalan: in the Open Catalan Black plays …dxc4 and can either try to hold on to the pawn with …b5 or give it back for extra time to free their game. In the Closed Catalan, Black does not capture on c4; their game can be somewhat cramped for a while, but is quite solid. Additionally, Black has ways to avoid the Catalan.

PGN OF THE GAME:

[Event “Airthings Masters Prelim”]
[Site “chess24.com INT”]
[Date “2020.12.26”]
[Round “4.6”]
[White “Dubov, Daniil”]
[Black “Anton Guijarro, D..”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteElo “2702”]
[BlackElo “2675”]
[Variant “Standard”]
[TimeControl “-“]
[ECO “E04”]
[Opening “Catalan Opening: Open Defense”]
[Termination “Normal”]
[Annotator “lichess.org”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 { E04 Catalan Opening: Open Defense } c6 6. O-O b5 7. Ne5 Bb7 8. Nc3 a6 9. b3 cxb3 10. axb3 Be7 11. Bb2 O-O 12. Ne4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 a5 14. Qc2 h6 15. Rfc1 Bf6 16. Ng4 Bg5 17. f4 f5 18. d5 fxe4 19. dxe6 Bf6?? { (0.95 → 4.13) Blunder. Be7 was best. } (19… Be7 20. Qxe4 Qe8 21. f5 Nd7 22. Nxh6+ Kh8 23. Rd1 Rd8 24. Ng4 Nf6 25. Nxf6 Rxf6 26. Rac1) 20. Nxf6+?? { (4.13 → 1.35) Blunder. Bxf6 was best. } (20. Bxf6) 20… gxf6 21. Qxe4 Qe7 22. f5 Na6 23. Rxa5?! { (2.35 → 1.63) Inaccuracy. Rf1 was best. } (23. Rf1) 23… h5?! { (1.63 → 2.56) Inaccuracy. Qg7 was best. } (23… Qg7 24. Qh4 Qg5 25. Qxg5+ hxg5 26. Rd1 Rad8 27. Rxd8 Rxd8 28. Bxf6 Rf8 29. e7 Ra8 30. Bxg5) 24. Qf3 Qh7 25. Rd1 Rad8 26. Raa1 Qh6 27. Kf2 Rd5 28. Rxd5 cxd5 29. Ra5?? { (4.86 → 0.00) Blunder. Rxa6 was best. } (29. Rxa6) 29… d4?? { (0.00 → 7.29) Blunder. Nc5 was best. } (29… Nc5 30. Rxb5 Ne4+ 31. Kg2 Bc6 32. Rb6 Rc8 33. Bd4 Qd2 34. Rxc6 Rxc6 35. Be3 Qc3 36. Qxh5) 30. Qxb7 Qe3+ 31. Kf1 d3 32. Qf3 Qd2 33. Rxa6 Qxb2 34. Qxd3 Rc8 35. e7 Re8 36. Re6 Kf7 37. Qf3 Qc1+ 38. Kg2 Qh6 39. Qd5 Kg7 40. Qxb5 Kf7 41. Qc4 Rxe7 42. Re4+ Ke8 43. Qg8+ Kd7?! { (63.32 → Mate in 5) Checkmate is now unavoidable. Qf8 was best. } (43… Qf8 44. Rxe7+) 44. Rd4+ { Black resigns. } 1-0

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