Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Alekhine Variation
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2
The Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Alekhine Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO E03, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2. It is a line of the Catalan Opening. Black 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 7… c5 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 35; best line 7… c5 8. Nf3 b5 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Ne5)
- ECO
- E03
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/1ppn1ppp/p3pn2/8/3P4/6P1/PPQ1PPBP/RNB1K1NR b KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. Qc2
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 7… c5 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
27 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 33%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Anish Giri (2752) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2767) 1/2-1/2 · 80th Tata Steel GpA · 2018-01-19
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2736) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2777) 1/2-1/2 · Lindores Abbey Prelim · 2020-05-20
- IM Balazs Csonka (2495) – GM Aleksandr Shimanov (2581) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th Jul Early · 2022-07-12
- GM Tamir Nabaty (2643) – FM Or Globus (2425) 1-0 · TCh-ISR 2022 · 2022-01-21
- Egor Filipets (2328) – GM Yuriy Kryvoruchko (2714) 1/2-1/2 · 18th ch-EUR Indiv 2017 · 2017-06-05
Search all games of the Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Alekhine Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Chess1Love0 (2783) – Meatloaf927 (2712) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Catalan Opening: Open Defense (5… Nbd7 6. Qxc4) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4
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 (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
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.