I'd be a little concerned with the Reti transposition 3...d4. Otherwise, there's nothing special for black in there.
Expect to also see a lot of transpositions into a Tarrasch, and b6/Bb7 will happen a lot too. It's not Catalan, but it's part of the repertoire.
I play 4.Nf3, but you have nothing to worry about in this variation. I would go more in depth but im at work. Ill post something with more substance later today.
Actually one of the safest ways for white to play the Catalan, is to start with 1.c4 because by not committing early d4 prevent dxc4 and Bb4+ which forces white to play a move Bd2 that it's not function for the close Catalan. I will suggest to do not play 4.d4 , instead play 4.Nf3 and wait for black to commit 4...Be7. Then you can go 5.d4 where black can't afford to lose another tempo.
Hi everyone,
I'm trying to build up a repertoire based on the 2.g3 English, while retaining the posibility of transposing to the Catalan against QGD setups.
After 1.c4 e6 2.g3 d5 I want to play 3.Bg2 so I can reach my setup against the Stonewall in case of 3...f5. I know that Black can play 3...dxc4 at this point but I'm fine with that. My question is after 3...Nf6 4.d4 is there any way for Black to take advantage of this move order or is transposing to the main lines of the Catalan (with 4...dxc4 5.Nf3 or 4...Be7 5.Nf3) the best he can get (see diagram)?
Thanks