Catalan Opening (2… e6 3. g3)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3
The Catalan Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO E00, reached after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,340 times by this move order. White won 51%, 7% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 3… d5 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.13 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3… Bb4+ 4. Nd2 d5 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Nf3)
- ECO
- E00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/4pn2/8/2PP4/6P1/PP2PP1P/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 109 | |
| 1500-1999 | 940 | |
| 2000+ | 2,291 | |
| All | 3,340 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d5 Catalan Opening (3. g3 d5) | 1,664 (50%) | |
| 3… Bb4+ | 786 (24%) | |
| 3… c5 | 484 (14%) | |
| 3… b6 | 145 (4%) | |
| 3… Be7 | 89 (3%) | |
| 3… c6 | 65 (2%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 31 (1%) | |
| 3… d6 | 26 (1%) |
Master games
9,210 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 26%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) – Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-15
- Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) – Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-13
- Ethereal 12.19 (3708) – Stoofvlees II a14 (3730) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-12
- Stoofvlees II a14 (3730) – Ethereal 12.19 (3708) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 18 Premier 2020 · 2020-06-09
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-03
Search all games of the Catalan Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sunrise34 (2891) – puziko52 (2885) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Chess1Love0 (2795) – winx_m (2950) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Chess1Love0 (2790) – winx_m (2955) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Indian Defense: Normal Variation 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4
Continuations
- Catalan Opening (3. g3 d5) E00 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5
- Catalan Opening: Hungarian Gambit E00 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 e5
- Bogo-Indian Defense: Retreat Variation (5… d5 6. Nf3) E11 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Be7 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3
- Benoni Defense: Fianchetto Variation (8. Nf3 O-O) A62 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O
- Catalan Opening: Closed, Spassky Gambit E08 · 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Be7 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Qc2 c6 8. b3 b6 9. Rd1 Bb7 10. Nc3 b5
More Catalan Opening lines (all)
- 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
- Catalan Opening: Open Defense, Classical Line (6. O-O dxc4) E05
- Catalan Opening: Closed (4… Be7 5. Nf3) E06
- Catalan Opening: Closed (6. O-O c6) 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.