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The Bishop That Haunts Black — and How to Set It Free
Ask a Catalan player where Black's difficulties really begin, and the answer is almost always the same: the light-squared bishop on c8. For decades it has been Black's problem, restricted behind its own pawns while White's fianchettoed counterpart controls the long diagonal unopposed. Fighting the Catalan: A Complete Repertoire for Black – Part 1, by GM Michael Roiz and GM Petar Arnaudov, is built around a single unifying idea — in every critical line, that bishop is given a purpose.
The repertoire is the Open Catalan. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O dxc4, Black grabs the pawn not to hold on to it, but to return it at the right moment in exchange for quicker development and active piece play. The tempo White burns recovering the pawn on c4 is precisely what levels the game.
One Idea, Traced Through Ten Chapters
What holds the course together is the consistency of the plan. Against 7.Na3, Black replies 7...Bxa3 8.bxa3 Bd7, rerouting the "bad" bishop to c6 where it stares straight down the diagonal. In the 7.Ne5 lines, the same bishop can get active quickly after 7…Nc6. And in the 7.Qc2 main line, ...b5 and ...Bb7 hand it the long diagonal, with the freeing ...c5 never far behind.
Roiz and Arnaudov present each of these not as isolated theory lines but as variations on one theme, so the ideas reinforce one another rather than piling up as memory work. Roiz continues here the family of top-level Black repertoires he began with the Neo-Catalan for Black – Top-Level Repertoire; the two courses pair naturally for anyone building a full answer to White's g3 systems.
Take the Catalan Off White's Terms
If facing the Catalan as Black has meant long, passive defense, this repertoire offers the opposite: a clear plan, an active bishop, and the ...c5 break as a recurring source of counterplay. Add Fighting the Catalan – Part 1 to your repertoire and start meeting one of White's most respected weapons on your own terms.
