Catalan Opening: Closed, Botvinnik Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 c6 8. Qd3
The Catalan Opening: Closed, Botvinnik Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E07, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 c6 8. Qd3. It is a line of the Catalan Opening. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.30 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 8… b6 9. e4 Ba6 10. b3 dxc4 11. bxc4)
- ECO
- E07
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/pp1nbppp/2p1pn2/3p4/2PP4/2NQ1NP1/PP2PPBP/R1B2RK1 b - - 1 8- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 c6 8. Qd3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
6 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 83%, draw 0%, Black 17%). The strongest:
- IM Murad Ibrahimli (2415) – FM Murad Abdulla (2329) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Nov Late · 2024-11-12
- Aziz Mirzaev (2154) – GM Igor Kovalenko (2556) 0-1 · 2nd Polugaevsky Mem · 2012-07-07
- Michael Haas (2197) – Owen McCoy (2085) 1-0 · Titled Tue 31st May Early · 2022-05-31
- IM Sergey Slugin (2362) – Roland Reuter (1916) 1-0 · 22nd OIBM 2018 · 2018-11-03
- Shamsi Garakhanov (1906) – Maksym Faryma (2011) 1-0 · 32nd EY Open U12 2024 · 2024-08-31
Search all games of the Catalan Opening: Closed, Botvinnik Variation and its sub-variations
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
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.