Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line (5. Nf3 Be7)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 Be7
The Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line is a chess opening classified as ECO E05, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 Be7. 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 7 times by this move order. White won 43%, 0% were drawn and Black won 57%. The most popular continuation is 6. O-O (71% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.19 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 6. Qa4+ c6 7. Qxc4 b5 8. Qc2 O-O)
- ECO
- E05
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp1bppp/4pn2/8/2pP4/5NP1/PP2PPBP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Nf3 Be7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 7 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. O-O | 5 (71%) | |
| 6. Qa4+ | 1 (14%) | |
| 6. Ne5 | 1 (14%) |
Master games
30 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 67%, draw 13%, Black 20%). The strongest:
- GM Nils Grandelius (2655) – IM Gillan Bwalya (2396) 1-0 · 44th Olympiad 2022 · 2022-08-06
- GM Tingjie Lei (2505) – GM Xue Zhao (2486) 1-0 · World Chess Woman Summit · 2020-12-05
- GM Petr Haba (2451) – GM Eduardas Rozentalis (2500) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-AUT 2022-23 · 2022-11-03
- GM Harsha Bharathakoti (2547) – IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (2378) 1-0 · Serbia Open 2022 · 2022-06-30
- GM Boris Avrukh (2592) – FM Seth Homa (2285) 1-0 · 26th Chicago Open 2017 · 2017-05-25
Search all games of the Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Karoo (2127) – tryingotherlines (2283) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- ChessVovchikSu (2181) – Asserbo (2170) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
- Dacato (2041) – Prepeleak (2064) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Catalan Opening: Open Defense (4… dxc4 5. Nf3) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. 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 (5. Bg2 dxc4) E04
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Modern Sharp Variation E04
- 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.