Chessguy:

Good luck with playing 11...c5!?  There's nobody within 300 miles of me who is a strong player and includes the Catalan in his regular repertoire so I don't think the nuance of playing 11...c5 without developing the q-side first would even be noticed.  I only face the Catalan online and generally play ...c6 variations because of their similarity to Slav lines.

Let us know how this turns out for you!

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 08/07/07 at 15:58:35:

Well I havent looked at it in any detail yet, but it seems to me the natural move.

Maybe completely stupid, but isnt 14.c6 an option? I think 14..Rc8 is sorta mandatory and then 15.bxa5 Rxc6 16.Qb2.
Looks decent to me.

If there is something wrong with 11...c5, then it surely definitely has to be 12.dxc5. However, how much time did you spend in looking for alternatives to 13.b4? 13.Be3 also looks very logical to me (prepares Nc3 and/or Rd1, connects the rook and thus allows a future b4 ...a5 a3 sequence). I suppose 13...Ng4 14.Nc3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 Nxe3 16.fxe3!? Bxc5 17.Bxa8 looks pretty wild to me.

Alternatively I looked at 17.Nd4 in the main game, but I'm not sure about that either, 17...Ne5 after all seems to gain the pair of bishops.

What's puzzling is that this is such a topical line at the top level at the moment, and 11...c5 isn't a hard move to spot.  That's what makes me skeptical, but it proved a rather difficult nut to crack...

I posted this in another thread that sprang back to life as soon as I brought it back to the top of the list.  With apologies for reposting, I thought it might be worth starting a new thread:

In a recent correspondence game, on the White side of the Catalan, I ran into the following position: 
 
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc2 Bb7 10.Bd2 Be4 11.Qc1 c5!?   
 
So often in the Catalan, the c7-c5 thrust is critical, but here, it looks premature (not to mention unpopular).  The top players in the world have shunned 11...c5 in favor of 11...Bb7, 11...Nbd7, and 11...Qc8, the latter two preparing c7-c5.  But why not 11...c5 immediately?  While I don't presume to compare myself to the top Catalan proponents, I had considerable difficulty finding any kind of advantage thereafter.  The game continued: 
 
12.dxc5 Nbd7 13.b4 a5 14.Nc3 Bxf3 15.Bxf3 axb4 16.Nxb5 Rb8 17.a4 Bxc5 18.Rb1 Qa5 19.Qc2 e5 20.Qb3 Nb6 21.Bxb4 Bxb4 22.Qxb4 Qxa4 23.Qxa4 Nxa4 24.Rfc1 h5 25.Rb4 Rfe8 26.e3 Red8 27.Rc2 g6 28.Kg2 Kg7  1/2-1/2 
 
So, my question: is there anything wrong with 11...c5?  If so, what did I miss?