I love the Closed Catalan · Road to GM, Game 379

I played the Closed Catalan, an opening I enjoy and feel comfortable in.

Radic B. (1729) - Tomic S. (1978)
Closed Catalan
Bošnjaci Open 2025, Rd.4

If you need a safe setup against Catalan setups, try out the Closed Catalan. The plans are easy to understand and most middlegames are equal with both sides having something to play for. Chess is hard, though, and, as you saw, I got a good position, failed to convert it, and even ended blundering into a lost position after missing a simple tactic.

#chess

[laszlokorosi]

19:31 No, you don't take on g2, but sacrifice your queen on h1 with mate on the next move.

[emilsadykhov]

Hold on a second, your opponent played Rc3 to prevent Bb6 but you said your opponent didn’t even see the tactic..so we will never actually know why your opponent played Rc3 lol

[johnbrady]

I really like your channel, I’m a watcher for many years but never really commented. Please continue doing what you do

[antoniantoniantoniantoni]

I also started late and I'm aiming to become a GM and I'm probably at similar level to yours atm. Cool videos! I never really analyzed my games properly without engine, that's a valuable thing I got from your videos .) (not that i never heard of it, but as someone who doesn't go to a club nor have a personal trainer i never committed to it). I don't know if you do that, but I recommend playing training games against Stockfish with live annatotations on paper and engine analysis afterwards.

[MatthewFiveEightt]

HI Stjepan. I have been following your channel for some time, my FIDE rating is a bit above 2200 (I have not played in ages, so my actual strength is lower but still), and I wanted to give you some suggestions, hope you are OK with that.

I think you are a bit too focused on openings and your opening repertoire for White is way too wide. It is good that you do not play only the London anymore but at your level, you should be playing only 1. d4 or only 1. e4. The previous game, you played the Ruy Lopez for the first time, and you just lost without much struggle. Focus more on studying tactics and endgame. Also, try to be a bit more aggressive. One thing I notice is when you play against stronger players rated 2100 and above you often lose without too much struggle.

Having said that, I think your openings repertoire with the Black pieces seems solid, especialy against non 1. e4 openings. You know the Slav. You have nice videos on the Caro-Kann too, only thing is I do not understand why you like the Karpov so much, I think both 4... Bf5 and 4.. Nf6 5. Nxf6 exf are bettter. Also I saw you tried the Gurgenidze, i do not know much about it but it is an imbalanced opening, so I assume it is a good choice. Good luck at your next tournament!

[waterus]

nice analysis! These games makes us in the amateur league actually improves and aim for higher goals!

[CallumHayesCHESS]

Love the series.

Qc2 is a bit inaccurate by your opponent. He can "punish" your bishop going to the more active square on d6 (opposed to e7) with Nd2 as when the knights recapture on e4 it will come with tempo on d6.

[brianbanks]

why you trust a toy is beyond the ken, it is supposed to be you against another human. Fischer, better than all of us put together, was right. Thanks for an otherwise great channel

[thesingingfly]

I understand why! You tend to perform a lot better in closed, positional games than you do in open, tactical, more dynamic ones. The Closed Catalan and Caro-Kann are perfect for your style of play; the Stonewall and Semi-Slav might be even better.

[AnlamK]

You deserved to lose this game but your opponent chickened out due to the rating differential.

This is why I play using zen mode on Lichess. Knowing your opponent's rating screws with your head.

Thanks for the video.