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Sick of the Catalan? Try This Aggressive Setup

I know what I'll be playing in a week and a half OTB

I know what I'll be playing in a week and a half OTB

It looks risky. Black trades his Bc8, which makes Bg2 even more powerful.
Black castles O-O-O, which is not safe for his king the diagonal of Bg2 and the file that will open. Example:

https://lichess.org/FU3AyKfc#18

It looks risky. Black trades his Bc8, which makes Bg2 even more powerful. Black castles O-O-O, which is not safe for his king the diagonal of Bg2 and the file that will open. Example: https://lichess.org/FU3AyKfc#18

@tpr said ^

It looks risky. Black trades his Bc8, which makes Bg2 even more powerful.
Black castles O-O-O, which is not safe for his king the diagonal of Bg2 and the file that will open.

Author stated that in the post. This line is good for must win situations, it's not a safe line, and margin of error is small for both colors.

Also Gelfand's idea is pretty interesting, 10.Nc3 to block the c4 pawn, to force an open file on the next move. I wonder if h5 is a little rushed, and if Black can play 11...Nd5 to prevent 11.b3. Also stopping 11.Qa4 I believe due to 11...Nb6. For the same reason 11.e4 doesn't look that effective. And a move like 11.Bd2 is definitely a good outcome for Black

EDIT: Turns out 11.Bd2 is not a good outcome for Black, as b3 is inevitable anyway.
EDIT 2: All this is included in the blog already xd. Up to 11...Bb4 further stopping b3. Then most popular move in Masters DB and best according to SF is 12.Na4! where both 12...f5 and 12...Qd6 result in a insane position, where Black really doesn't want to open any files, but White has clear initiative with ideas of Nc5, Rc1–Rc4 and of course b3

@tpr said [^](/forum/redirect/post/2hIvIjme) > It looks risky. Black trades his Bc8, which makes Bg2 even more powerful. > Black castles O-O-O, which is not safe for his king the diagonal of Bg2 and the file that will open. Author stated that in the post. This line is good for must win situations, it's not a safe line, and margin of error is small for both colors. Also Gelfand's idea is pretty interesting, 10.Nc3 to block the c4 pawn, to force an open file on the next move. I wonder if h5 is a little rushed, and if Black can play 11...Nd5 to prevent 11.b3. Also stopping 11.Qa4 I believe due to 11...Nb6. For the same reason 11.e4 doesn't look that effective. And a move like 11.Bd2 is definitely a good outcome for Black EDIT: Turns out 11.Bd2 is not a good outcome for Black, as b3 is inevitable anyway. EDIT 2: All this is included in the blog already xd. Up to 11...Bb4 further stopping b3. Then most popular move in Masters DB and best according to SF is 12.Na4! where both 12...f5 and 12...Qd6 result in a insane position, where Black really doesn't want to open any files, but White has clear initiative with ideas of Nc5, Rc1–Rc4 and of course b3