Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line (6. O-O dxc4)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4
The Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line is a chess opening classified as ECO E05, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4. 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 159 times by this move order. White won 48%, 11% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 7. Qc2 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.16 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4 Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6)
- ECO
- E05
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/4pn2/8/2pP4/5NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQ1RK1 w - - 0 7- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 21 | |
| 2000+ | 138 | |
| All | 159 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Qc2 | 67 (42%) | |
| 7. Ne5 | 53 (33%) | |
| 7. Qa4 | 13 (8%) | |
| 7. Nc3 | 12 (8%) | |
| 7. Nbd2 | 5 (3%) | |
| 7. a4 | 5 (3%) | |
| 7. Na3 | 3 (2%) | |
| 7. Qd2 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
2,590 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 39%, Black 26%). The strongest:
- GM Liren Ding (2805) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) 0-1 · Croatia GCT 2019 · 2019-07-04
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773) 0-1 · Airthings Masters Prelim · 2022-02-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2865) – GM Anish Giri (2772) 1-0 · 84th Tata Steel Masters · 2022-01-16
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2782) 1/2-1/2 · WCh 2021 · 2021-11-27
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2814) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2816) 1-0 · 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015 · 2015-08-23
Search all games of the Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM sillyMASTER (2852) – NM Andrey11976 (2812) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- AlwaysLookingForMore (2694) – NM Andrey11976 (2781) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- lupitakremlin (2744) – Tanatov_2006 (2685) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Anti-Nimzo-Indian 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
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.