Openings
Grandmaster Repertoire 1A: The Catalan
Boris Avrukh
Nov 26, 2025
Category
:
Openings
Difficulty
:
Category
ELO Rating :
Readability :
4
/10
Usefulness :
9
/10
Review By :
Manpreeth Singh
Founder Ocean Chess Academy
I have a feeling that Avrukh really tried to avoid as many complications in lines as possible, so if you are not very enthusiastic about learning long lines, this will be perfect for you. I used many of the lines given in Grandmaster Repertoire 1a with plenty of success, so I warmly recommend this book, and I wish you long, “grindy” games. If you are positionally inclined as a player, the repertoire given by Boris Avrukh in this book will probably suit you (I am speaking from personal experience). Main ideas in each chapter are explained very well, a book is not heavy with long, complicated lines.
Print Length
440
Language
English
Publisher
Quality Chess
Publication Date
2015
Introduction
If you are positionally inclined as a player, the repertoire given by Boris Avrukh in this book will probably suit you (I am speaking from personal experience).
This book contains material from previously written books Grandmaster Repertoire 1 (Catalan) and Grandmaster Repertoire 2 (part about Benoni), but all of that from the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3. From 2008 (when Grandmaster Repertoire 1 was published) to 2015 some of the evaluations have changed, so the author felt the need to update us with new verdicts about certain lines in Grandmaster Repertoire 1a.
Here’s a beautiful Open Catalan played in Israel in 2008, in which Boris Avrukh himself had white against Alexander Moiseenko. Who is better and why?
Difficulty of Avrukh’s Catalan
I believe this book is highly valuable to anyone above 2000 FIDE rating. One thing I would recommend, especially to the weaker side of this spectrum, is that they don’t believe blindly to the lines given here. Some lines are not approved by today’s engines, meaning that at moments there are slightly better moves than recommended by the author. Nevertheless, most of the lines are perfectly fine while being checked with today’s engine.
