The Queen's Gambit & Catalan for Black Lasha Janjgava
Publisher: Gambit Publications

Grandmaster Sadler explains the key ideas behind the Queen's Gambit Declined, one of Black's most dependable responses to the queen's pawn. Queen's Gambit Declined: Mighty Minority Attack. If Black permits this capture by responding bxc6, he leaves the c6 pawn backward and vulnerable on the half open c-file. This Queen's Gambit turned tactical early as a volley of trades erupted on the board. White will either follow up with Bg5 or Bf4, or aim for a Catalan-like formation with g3, without gambiting a pawn. Hracek,Z (2628) - Elsness,F (2506). I found a key improvement for black in the notes to black's 18th move. This is slightly counter-intuitive to me, but perhaps I have been conditioned too much by old-fashioned opening manuals who treated the Queen's Gambit and the Catalan as entirely different complexes. In order to prevent this easy attacking plan, the ingenious 15.Re4 has been tried. The classic main line A quieter alternative to 5 Qb3 and 5 g3 is the transposition to the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined with 5 cxd5 exd5. Semi-Slav Anti-Moscow Gambit[D43]. An unbalanced position occurred and black had an extra pawn, but his king was stuck in the center and queen being harassed after 14. Black then continues 15Bg4 and after 16.Qd3 he has 16Rae8 17.Nd2 and now 17f5 or 17Re6, to name just a few of the more characteristic ideas. The move 5 Qb3 hopes to improve on 5 e3 by defending against Black winning a pawn by 5…dxc4 followed by 6…b5, while at the same time not blocking in his queen's bishop. Now black played 18Bb7 but 18..Nb8 manages to hold. The Minority Attack White pushes b2-b4-b5, threatening bxc6.