I’ve Played the Catalan 1,500+ Times. Here’s 3 Lessons I Learned

Since then, I’ve played the Catalan in well over 100 OTB games and according to my calculations ~1,450 online games. That adds up to more than 1,500 Catalans. It’s been my main weapon for my entire FM career, and it’s still my favorite opening. By now, I'm known for always playing it and I’ve even reached the point where some opponents prepare specifically to avoid it.

Along the way, I’ve turned everything I’ve learned into a Lichess study on the Catalan, which you can find here: How to Play The Catalan

In this article, I want to share three of my favorite Catalan games from the past three years, and the most important lesson each one taught me.

Game 1: Know the Structure, Not Just the Line

Yes, I know. If you’ve read my previous articles, you’ve probably already seen this game. Maybe more than once. But I couldn’t write about my favorite Catalan games without including my win against David Navara.

We played in rapid at the 2024 World Rapid & Blitz Team Championships. (He got his revenge in blitz, but we don’t need to talk about that.) If you want the full story behind the game, I wrote about it here: [link]

What I haven’t really talked about before is how the opening went. Instead of my usual 3. g3, I spontaneously went for 3. Nf3 and the game ended up in a Queen’s Indian. Not a pure Catalan, but since I developed my pieces exactly the way I always do, the position became very similar.

Technically, it was a line I had never studied. But because I had spent so much time on Catalan structures, I knew a pretty niche idea in this type of position, one I think he might have overlooked.

Once I had my familiar position, I was so confident that I didn’t even consider the possibility of losing. Looking back, that was probably a little delusional. But I think that delusion is exactly what helped me win.

What this game taught me: you don’t need to know every line if you understand the structure. The moves were new to me, but the position wasn’t. That's why I've spent so much time these past months studying structures and posting a lot of material about it here on lichess.

Game 2: One Inaccuracy Can Be Enough

This one was played in Titled Tuesday against the Lithuanian GM Paulius Pultinevicius. It was only blitz, so it’s not a perfect game, and it’s far from my most memorable win. But it’s still a very beautiful and instructive Catalan game against a strong player.

It was a Closed Catalan, and the first 13 moves were all theory. Then he played one move that looked completely reasonable, and the position was already winning for me. His position still looked fine on the surface, but my positional advantage was so big that I could sacrifice an exchange like it was nothing.

There’s no single brilliant move in this game. What I love about it is how harmoniously all my pieces worked together.

What this game taught me: in the Catalan, the pressure builds so quietly that one natural-looking move can be enough to lose. And once you have that kind of space and coordination, material starts to matter a lot less.

Game 3: An Opening You Trust Is Something to Fall Back On

The last game isn’t here because of my opponent’s rating. It’s here because of what that tournament meant to me.

The first half of 2026 was a slump. My rating dropped from 2283 to 2207 from just a few games, my motivation was fading, and between university and everything else, chess had started to feel more like a grind than something I loved. For a while, I was barely studying or playing at all.

Then I played the Stockholm Elo Challenge. Strangely enough, I knew before the tournament even started that I was going to be back. And I was. I won the tournament and it became the first of three tournament wins in a row, including the Swedish Junior Championship. Tomorrow I get my new elo: 2322, the highest I’ve ever had.

Our game also shows what happens when people start preparing against your Catalan. My opponent, Lukas Willstedt, had prepared for the line I usually play, so I avoided it and went for something else I knew instead.

The story didn’t end there. When we played again two months later, he tried something really strange: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3. Nf3 a6!?, probably with the idea of meeting 3.g3 with ...b5. Funnily enough, I had prepared a completely new line against him that time, so I didn’t even want to go into the Catalan.

What this game taught me: when you understand an opening deeply, preparation against one line doesn’t scare you, because you always have something else you know. And when you’re out of form, familiar positions take the pressure off. You don’t have to find your way in a new position every game. You already know what you’re aiming for, and that lets you rebuild your confidence one game at a time.

Conclusion

Looking back at these three games, they all come down to the same thing. Against Navara, I didn’t know the line, but I knew the structure. Against Pultinevicius, the structure did the work after one small inaccuracy. And against Lukas, understanding the opening broadly meant his preparation didn’t matter. Memorized lines have won me plenty of games, but the understanding is what has stayed with me for three years.

Winning the Swedish Junior Championship also qualified me for the top group of the Swedish Championship at the end of June 2027, which is the deadline for my attempt at the IM title. To make it, I need to reach 2400 and score three IM norms. Honestly, that’s probably unrealistic, at least the norms, with so little time left. But if you aim for the stars, you might reach the moon. And I think you can guess which opening I’ll be playing on the way.

So what’s the biggest lesson from 1,500+ Catalans? Maybe just that the Catalan is the best opening ever. I might be a little biased...

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to leave a like and don't forget to check out the study! ❤️

If you want to learn the Catalan yourself, you can find my study here: