Hungarian Opening: Catalan Formation
1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e6
The Hungarian Opening: Catalan Formation is a chess opening classified as ECO A00, reached after 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e6. It is a line of the Hungarian Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4,789 times by this move order. White won 49%, 6% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3. b3 (19% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 39; best line 3. Nf3 c5 4. c4 d4 5. e3 Nc6)
- ECO
- A00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/8/6P1/PPPPPPBP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,809 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,600 | |
| 2000+ | 380 | |
| All | 4,789 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. b3 | 905 (19%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 866 (18%) | |
| 3. d3 | 855 (18%) | |
| 3. e3 | 715 (15%) | |
| 3. d4 | 450 (9%) | |
| 3. c4 | 266 (6%) | |
| 3. c3 | 231 (5%) | |
| 3. e4 | 140 (3%) |
Master games
207 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 9%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2779) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2739) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 1m+1spm 2017 · 2018-08-02
- GM Vladislav Artemiev (2746) – GM So, W. (2767) 1-0 · chess.com Speed 2019 · 2019-12-05
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Andrew Tang (2523) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Losers 2023 · 2023-07-20
- GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (2603) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2698) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th Mar 2026 · 2026-03-17
- GM Cristobal Henriquez Villagra (2603) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2695) 1/2-1/2 · 1st 3-0 Thu 30th Apr 2026 · 2026-04-30
Search all games of the Hungarian Opening: Catalan Formation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- RisingKnight389 (2684) – TheorySpeedrun (2712) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- HoMeEeEr (2556) – TheorySpeedrun (2649) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Juadis42 (2508) – KuoCinyu (2616) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Hungarian Opening 1. g3
More Hungarian Opening lines (all)
- Hungarian Opening: Asten Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Burk Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Bücker Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Dutch Defense A00
- Hungarian Opening: Indian Defense A00
- Hungarian Opening: Myers Defense A00
- Hungarian Opening: Pachman Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Paris Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Alekhine A00
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Brooklyn Defense, Brooklyn Benko Gambit A00
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Modern Defense A00
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Norwegian Defense A00
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.