New Idea in Open-Catalan

There's a great discussion this week on ICC with John Watson and GM David Smerdon on 5...Bb4+ (Var 3 of the Catalan - Open System) in which he plays 6...c5 instead of the ICS recomendation 6...a5 and got a powerful attack as black.

The game is so recent, I don't have it in my database yet and so I can't duplicate the game here. The broadcast is worth a listen.

Maybe not a bust, but certainly a line those of us playing the 1.d4 repertoire should have something prepared for...

U might want to look at the second game of the 2010 World Championship to see how Anand came back against Topalov with this 6..c5 in the Open Catalan. The authors of the discussion on the ICC may well have knew this from the WC game.

Thanks for the tip, maybe they did know, or maybe Anand knows something the authors don't....

I think I prefer the ICS move, 6.O-O, which provides some safety to the King, and allows White some tactics in the event of Blacks c5.