By the way, in the 2000 World Championship match Kasparov played the Catalan,
which ended in a draw after 38 moves and the title for Kramnik.
Is The Catalan Solid?
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The Catalan is somewhat of a backwater, but it is solid, and some players achieved great results with it. Take Genna Sosonko, for example. Used the Catalan 28 times between 1987 and 1998, never lost a single game. His opponents - Karpov, Lautier, Huebner, Timman, among others. Korchnoi and Beliavsky used it extensively. Kasparov played it at least 15 times. Nonetheless, it is vastly less popular than the KID, QGD or the Nimzo-Indian.
Yes, it's quite a grandmaster's opening, an amateur playing it shouldn't probably hope for more than a draw. The White gets a small but lasting positional edge which however is hard to exploit for us amateurs.
The Catalan is as solid or as sharp as both players make it. For example.
In yesterday's forum we discussed whether the Grunfeld was solid. After
that exciting game today I ask, "Is the Catalan solid"? When it comes to World
Championship play does it hold up over time?
Also, is there any other record of doubled outside passed pawns in a World
Championship game? I thought that was really unusual.
Will there be coverage on ChessTV on Tuesday? The scedule shows the
next game is not until Wednesday.