Catalan Opening (3. g3 d5)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5
The Catalan Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO E00, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,664 times by this move order. White won 50%, 8% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 4. Bg2 (68% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 Nbd7)
- ECO
- E00
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/6P1/PP2PP1P/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 44 | |
| 1500-1999 | 437 | |
| 2000+ | 1,183 | |
| All | 1,664 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Bg2 Open Defense (3… d5 4. Bg2) | 1,130 (68%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 464 (28%) | |
| 4. cxd5 | 33 (2%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 12 (1%) | |
| 4. Qc2 | 8 (0%) | |
| 4. Nd2 | 5 (0%) | |
| 4. c5 | 4 (0%) | |
| 4. Bg5 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
7,297 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 29%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- Stoofvlees II a16 (3513) – Ethereal TCEC S20 DivP (3482) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-03
- Ethereal TCEC S20 DivP (3482) – Stoofvlees II a16 (3513) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-01
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2823) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2862) 1/2-1/2 · 83rd Tata Steel Masters · 2021-01-27
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2805) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2804) 0-1 · 3rd Norway Blitz 2015 · 2015-06-15
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2802) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2786) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com Speed 5m+2spm 2017 · 2017-11-02
Search all games of the Catalan Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sunrise34 (2891) – puziko52 (2885) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Chess1Love0 (2819) – PumASan (2894) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- LuckyStar2011 (2834) – puziko52 (2863) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Catalan Opening (2… e6 3. g3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3
Continuations
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (3… d5 4. Bg2) E01 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2
More Catalan Opening lines (all)
- Catalan Opening: Hungarian Gambit E00
- Catalan Opening: Tarrasch Defense E01
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (4. Bg2 dxc4) E02
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (5… Nbd7 6. Qxc4) E03
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Alekhine Variation E03
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (4… dxc4 5. Nf3) E04
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (5. Bg2 dxc4) E04
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Modern Sharp Variation E04
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line (5. Nf3 Be7) E05
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line (6. O-O dxc4) E05
- Catalan Opening: Closed (4… Be7 5. Nf3) E06
- Catalan Opening: Closed (6. O-O c6) E06
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.