is the catalan sharp or quiet and positional? is it good for learning chess?

the headliner says it all. i always liked the catalan but avoided it because i was told i need to play more sharp stuff, but now i hear other people say the catalan is razorsharp. it there really any reason for me to play the zukertort that i dont really like until i get to 2000 and then relearn my white openings? i know there is some theori on the catalan but im not in a hurry. im gonna play chess for the rest of my life:)

The Catalan can be either one. The same can be said about any chess opening. There are no sharp/positional openings, only sharp/positional players.

i agree to a certain degree but i dont like the positions i get in the zukertort and despite how much i practice it i do much better in mainlineopenings that i havent studied at all. i guess they are mainlines for a reason when i dont grab the extra space with 2.c4 as white i feel cramped and the games are not really exiting

I'm not surprised, the Colle-Zukertort would discourage anyone just learning chess.

Try out some 1.d4 mainlines, although the Catalan is a bit subtle so I would stick with some mainline QGD stuff for awhile. Or better yet just play 1.e4.

The Catalan is a fairly positional opening. It normally involves White making a pawn sacrifice for queenside pressure. White's initiative can easily disappear if a single inaccuracy is made, so you really need to know your stuff if you want to play this opening.

I agree with Gonnosuke! Give up that "system" crap and learn some mainlines! Playing the same set-up with white regardless of what black does will do nothing for your growth as a chess player.

It is kind of positional, but the lines where black can take the pawn can be sharp too, because white's knight often jumps to e5 or something and tries to play dynamically, but often with positional pressure and by putting his pieces on good squares rather than an all out direct attack that you would try for in say the evans gambit.

However, I have no experience in the catalan, this is just what I've seen in a few tiny looks at the theory and in some catalan games.

I've played the Catalan for awhile, and I heard a quote from some GM somewhere which I think sums up the opening quite well.

"In the Catalan, white has nothing but black has problems."

In my experience playing openings you like is more important than trying to play one because someone tells you it is sharp.  Play what you like; you'll be more inspired at the board, have more fun, and may even study and work at it more.

Another opinion, free of charge: the argument that people shouldn't play certain complex, theoretical, or razor-sharp openings until they reach such-n-such rating is hogwash.  Most of the people you play won't know them any better than you do (that's part of why they are at your level).  You'll find many examples of low-rated players that enjoy and do well with a very theoretical line, even without studying it much.  Mistakes are everywhere, but no more than their opponents'.  And they do just as well as they would with some second-rate system opening.

When it comes to openings, play what you want to or like to play, not what someone else tells you to play.

Relatively quiet and positional. While in some systems (e.g. the Dragon) forgetting a move in the opening leads to a loss, here it is less critical.

I mean, sacrifices for initiative are not an essential part of it, but, naturally, they may also happen at some stage.

I think the games played in it in the recent world championship match express the kind of opening it is pretty well. It's positional in the sense that there's this slow buildup over 20, 25, 30 moves and then something in the position gives and the tactical flurries start. It's not like a King's Gambit where the tactics start flying really early, but the tactical potential is definitely there because White has good piece play for his pawn.

wow ive gotten alot of answers since i i last checked! i should have checked earlier.

its all very useful. it sounds like its something for me:) i am suggested to use 1.e4 but its not my taste. i dont mind complicated and tactical positions but i want openings that doesnt demand me to go wild in a kinghunt since im more fascinated about endgames and pawnstructures and then i guess 1.d4 is the natural choice since in the sicilian and stuff like that black have better pawnstructure while white have good attackingchances which demands attacking. i will probably go with the book wojos weapons since i heard alot of praise for it

The Catalan is a great opening, but you need to know the transpositional subtleties and they can be extremely complex.

To begin with do not play 2 c4 play Nf3 that cuts out a lot of the sharp stuff.

GM N Davies has a very good book out on the Catalan and he covers transpositions, your real problem is how you will deal with non d5 openings, Kings Indian Grunfeld, Slav, Dutch etc etc. 

The point is the Catalan will take you right through a chess life the CZ will not.

while at it, should a catalanplayer play the grunfeld as black? and what do they usually play against 1.e4? probably a hard question but all attempts to answer it are very welcome:)

I agree with this... the Gruenfeld is quite a bit sharper than the Catalan.

What you could do as White is play the Reversed Gruenfeld:

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4

Unlike most reversed openings, here White benefits from the extra tempo, making the usual main lines dangerous for Black. The common strategy in this opening is more or less the same for you; however, your opponent will generally play much safer, so the play normally isn't as sharp as a regular Gruenfeld.

OK first, there is nothing wrong with system openings, other than the fact that you don't like them.  I know a few youngsters in my area that have taken the Colle from 1400 to 2000+.  That being said, if you don't like it, then its not for you.

I don't know much about the Catalan but it seems rather subtle and there can be a myraid of transpositions, like playing a Reti Opening.  I think Ericmittens suggest you play mainline QGD or 1e4, which I think are both good choices although mainline QGD might be a bit more comfortable for you at first.

I would say that the Frankenstein Dracula variation is pretty sharp...

I played the Vienna for about a year at my local club a few years back, thinking that if the opportunity ever arose, I'd say "to heck with the advantage" and just go right along if anyone ever manouvered into a Frank/Drac.

In about 500 games, I never got anywhere close, and only got as far as 3...Nxe4 two or three times.  Never got past move five.

In short, a life spent waiting to use your preparation in that line would probably be more profitably spent hunting snipe, or contemplating the fuzz in your navel.

I’m sure he would appreciate the response, but it appears this guy hasn’t been here for 6 years, and it’s a 10-year-old thread.

Wow. OP is rated 1495 FIDE, yet his chess.com rapid is 2300+, and they say Lichess ratings are inflated.