Catalan Opening: Closed (6… Nbd7 7. Qc2)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2
The Catalan Opening: Closed is a chess opening classified as ECO E08, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2. It is a line of the Catalan Opening. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 10 times by this move order. White won 60%, 0% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 7… c6 (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 7… c6 8. Nbd2 c5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Nb3)
- ECO
- E08
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pppnbppp/4pn2/3p4/2PP4/5NP1/PPQ1PPBP/RNB2RK1 b - - 7 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 10 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… c6 | 4 (40%) | |
| 7… c5 | 2 (20%) | |
| 7… a5 | 2 (20%) | |
| 7… b6 | 2 (20%) |
Master games
117 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 33%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM M. Amin Tabatabaei (2686) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2712) 1/2-1/2 · Chennai GM 2024 · 2024-11-10
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2695) – GM Volodar Murzin (2657) 1/2-1/2 · Chessable Masters Play-In · 2025-02-17
- GM David Navara (2628) – GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2691) 1-0 · 8th Prague Masters 2026 · 2026-03-01
- GM Dariusz Swiercz (2649) – GM Jorge Cori (2660) 1/2-1/2 · Pan-Am Intercollegiate · 2017-12-29
- GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2598) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2698) 1-0 · Tetraktys Concept Mgmt Bl · 2021-06-06
Search all games of the Catalan Opening: Closed and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CM SouthAfricanWolf (2581) – Towser1 (2686) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Tomberg_Dmitry (2421) – FM IGet_Stronger (2607) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- Vaskacot (2415) – Moppes (2414) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Catalan Opening: Closed (6. O-O Nbd7) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7
Continuations
- Catalan Opening: Closed (7… c6 8. b3) E08 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. b3
- Catalan Opening: Closed (9… Bb7 10. e4) E08 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Bf4 b6 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. e4
- Catalan Opening: Closed, Sokolsky Variation E09 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6 9. b3 a5 10. Bb2 Ba6
More Catalan Opening lines (all)
- Catalan Opening (2… e6 3. g3) E00
- Catalan Opening (3. g3 d5) E00
- Catalan Opening: Hungarian Gambit E00
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense (3… d5 4. Bg2) E01
- 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
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.