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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 fianchettos his bishop on g2. A common opening sequence (in algebraic notation) is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2, though the opening can arise from a large number of move-orders. This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... The first moves of a chess game are the opening moves, collectively referred to as the opening. ... The Queens Gambit is a chess opening that starts with the moves 1. ... The Réti Opening (also called the Zukertort Opening and the Kings Knight Opening) is a chess opening characterized by the opening move 1. ... In chess the fianchetto (Italian little flanking) is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward. ... Algebraic chess notation is the method used today by all competition chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers to record and describe the play of chess games. ...

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

Few of the world's top players have played the Catalan with any regularity, though many have dabbled with it. One of its most notable uses at the top level came when both Garry Kasparov and Viktor Korchnoi played it in their Candidates Semifinal match (part of the process to determine who would challenge world champion Anatoly Karpov for the title) in London in 1983: five games of the eleven-game match were Catalans. Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Га́рри Ки́мович Каспа́ров, pronounced with stress falling on the second syllable: kas-PA-rov) (born April 13, 1963) is a chess grandmaster and is arguably the strongest chess player... Viktor Korchnoi (also Korchnoy, Kortchnoy, Kortschnoj, etc) (Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й) (born March 23, 1931) is a professional chess player. ... The 1984 World Chess Championship was between Anatoly Karpov (right) and Garry Kasparov (left). ... Anatoli Yevgenyevich Karpov (Анато́лий Евге́ньевич Ка́рпов) (born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. ...

The Catalan derives its name from the Catalonia region of Spain, after tournament organizers at the 1929 Barcelona tournament asked Savielly Tartakower to create a new variation in homage to the area's chess history. In 1008, a Catalonian nobleman, Count Ermengol of Urgell, specified in his will that his chess pieces were to be left to the Convent of St. Giles near Nîmes, France: the earliest recorded mention of chess in European history. It had been played a few times before Tartakower's usage in the tournament, however: Réti-Leonhardt, Berlin 1928, for instance, transposed into an Open Catalan. Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ... -1... Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 100. ... Ksawery Tartakower (generally known as Saviely or Savielly in English, from Polish Sawielly meaning little Saul, less often Xavier Tartacover or Xavier Tartakover; 1887–1956) was a leading Polish and French chess Grandmaster. ... Events Olof, king of Sweden, is baptized. ... Location within France Nîmes is a city and commune of southern France, préfecture (capital) of the Gard département. ... Richard Réti (1889 – 1929) was a Czechoslovakian chess player, although he was born in what was then Hungary. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... In music, transposition is moving a note or collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval. ...

In 2004, Ruben Felgaer won a tournament celebrating the 75th anniversary of Barcelona 1929 and the birth of the Catalan Opening, ahead of Grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi, Mihail Marin, Lluis Comas and Viktor Moskalenko and International Master Manel Granados. Each game in the tournament, which was also held in Barcelona, began with the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 100. ... The five original grandmasters of chess, from left to right: Lasker (seated), Alekhine, Capablanca, Marshall, Tarrasch (seated) The title International Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ... Viktor Korchnoi (also Korchnoy, Kortchnoy, Kortschnoj, etc) (Ви́ктор Льво́вич Корчно́й) (born March 23, 1931) is a professional chess player. ... The title International Master is awarded to outstanding chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. The title is open to both men and women. ...