Catalan Opening: Closed Variation, Traditional Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6
The Catalan Opening: Closed Variation, Traditional Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E09, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6. It is a line of the Catalan Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 9. e4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 53; best line 9. e4 dxc4 10. Nxc4 Bb7 11. Bf4 c5)
- ECO
- E09
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/p2nbppp/1pp1pn2/3p4/2PP4/5NP1/PPQNPPBP/R1B2RK1 w - - 0 9- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2 b6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. e4 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
36 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 25%, draw 44%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2679) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2701) 0-1 · Chess.com Rapid Wk2 Swiss · 2022-02-19
- GM Boris Gelfand (2737) – GM Kirill Stupak (2579) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2017 · 2017-09-03
- GM Ivan Cheparinov (2683) – GM Kacper Piorun (2631) 1/2-1/2 · 20th ch-EUR Indiv 2019 · 2019-03-28
- GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2591) – GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2676) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 2nd June · 2020-06-02
- GM Marin Bosiocic (2619) – GM Viktor Erdos (2624) 1/2-1/2 · 21st European Teams · 2017-11-03
Highest-rated Lichess games
- tosbikchess (2169) – yvanleterrible (2093) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Catalan Opening: Closed, Main Line (7… c6 8. Nbd2) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. Nbd2
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.