Neo-Catalan part 1 Released on Chessable!
Dear all,
I'm pleased to announce that a couple days ago, part 1 of my new Neo-Catalan Repertoire was released on Chessable! I'm really happy with the final product.
The premise of the Neo-Catalan is to open with 1.c4 and 2.g3, aiming to quickly get the f1-bishop top the long diagonal and claim that it is better than the bishop on c8. Within the Catalan proper, as well as the Slav setups, King's Indian setups, and Dutch setups that Black can employ, I am quite convinced that 1.c4 is a far superior move order to 1.d4. It limits Black's options tremendously, makes it much harder for him to make forcing moves to equalize directly, and should give us better chances of fighting for an advantage. The drawback of playing 1.c4 is that it allows 1...c5 and 1...e5, which 1.d4 does not. The question then becomes, which move order is better? Of course it is ultimately a matter of taste, and most guys who play Catalan setups a lot (Ding, Gelfand, Kramnik, etc) are very comfortable with 1.d4, 1.c4, and even 1.Nf3 move orders. But, when lifelong 1.e4 players try to branch out and play a Catalan setup to expand their horizons, they nearly always choose a 1.c4 move order. Recent examples include Karjakin, Adams, Svidler, and Dominguez. All of them are clearly 1.e4 players through and through, and have relied on this move for nearly all of their careers, but at the moments when they did try to play some Catalans, they all gravitated to 1.c4, and not 1.d4.
The course introduction, in PGN, is below. I'd recommend taking a look!
The course is available here: https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-neo-catalan-part-1-/course/138154/
I have already started work on part 2, which will cover 1...c5. I expect it to be released in Mid-late April.
Additionally, all of the other 8 Chessable courses I have done are currently on sale, from now through February 12th. This includes several full opening repertoires for Black in the Semi-Slav, Berlin, and Classical Sicilian, as well as a 3-part series for White on playing 1.d4, as well as a calculation workbook that I did with my coach, Jacob Aagaard. If you want to check any of them out, I'd recommend doing it sooner rather than later to take advantage of the temporarily lower prices! You can see them here: https://www.chessable.com/courses/s/shankland
Best wishes to all on your future chess improvement. I hope these courses are helpful! I certainly put a lot of work into them.
Sam Shankland
