Writing an opening book is always a challenging endeavor-especially in 2025. How long will the suggested lines remain relevant? Computers may soon refute certain analyses. Tournament practice might uncover more effective continuations. And some lines may simply fall out of fashion. This has been the fate of virtually every chess opening book ever written.
Yet despite these uncertainties, opening books remain both useful and necessary. Why? Because the author plays a crucial role: selecting lines from a vast sea of millions of games, deeply analyzing them, highlighting key moves and variations, explaining underlying ideas, and finally, offering objective evaluations.
In this work by Hungarian International Master Balázs Csonka, all of these tasks - so far as I could assess- have been executed at an impressively high level.
Balázs, now 28 years old, was among the very first students of the renowned Géza Maróczy Chess School in Budapest, founded in 2006. The school quickly proved successful, especially in its early years. Following in the footsteps of Hungarian chess greats such as Géza Maróczy, László Szabó, Gedeon Barcza, and Pál Benko, many promising young talents emerged from the school. These include names like Benjámin Gledura and Richárd Rapport-who, just days before the release of this book, defeated the reigning World Champion Gukesh.
I vividly remember the distinguished guest lecturers who graced the school: Olympic champions from the 1978 Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad such as Lajos Portisch, Zoltán Ribli, Gyula Sax (who later became Balázs's trainer), and lstván Csom, as well as world-class players like Judit Polgár, Zsuzsa Polgár, Zsuzsa Veroci, and Mária lvánka. Our young students had the rare privilege of learning directly from these
legends.
lncidentally -and this is now a piece of chess history- the Catalan Opening played a pivotal role in that same 1978 Olympiad. First, Lajos Portisch defeated Bulgaria's top board, Radulov, and then, in the final decisive round, Zoltán Ribli overcame Yugoslavia's Ljubomir Ljubojevic - both victories achieved using the same line in the Catalan. The Hungarian tournament book at the time featured an analysis of the Ribli game by Gedeon Barcza, another master of the Catalan.
I myself wrote a small booklet back in 2006 (in Hungarian only) titled The Power of the Catalan Bishop. But what Balázs Csonka offers here is a far more comprehensive and modern take. His book is a deep, well-structured, and thoroughly up-to-date exploration of one of the most popular openings in contemporary chess-a weapon favored by numerous World Champions and elite players.
This excellent and sophisticated work not only helps us grasp the fundamental ideas, plans, and tactical motifs of the Catalan but also dives into fresh, cuttingedge computer analysis. It is a valuable contribution to both modern opening theory and the legacy of the Hungarian chess school.
József Horváth,
Grandmaster and FIDE Senior Trainer,
Budapest, April 2025
