Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

8 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SlAV
Only White has a passed pawn for the
moment, but Black can create one
rather quickly with ... b4 followed by
. .. c3, and this might turn out to be even
more dangerous than White's h-pawn.
Indeed, often it is White's f-pawn that
turns out to cause real concern - that
is, if White is able to win the f7-pawn.
Sacrifices
All manner of sacrifices, by both White
and Black, abound in the Botvinnik
System. Often the goal is the initiative,
but a common motivation is to
gain positional compensation, in particular
the liberation of pawn majorities.
Here are two of my personal
favourites:
This truly astonishing move solves
all Black's problems. After 23 'ij'xhS
cxb2 Black obtains two far-advanced
passed pawns and great counterplay .
This can all be found in Chapter 2.
w
Another example from Chapter 2:
B
Aseev - Se.lvanov
St Petersburg 1997
White's last move was 22 i.g5-
f4!?, which appears to place Black in
grave peril due to the threat of 23 l:taS.
However ...
22 ... l:thS!!
Ivanchuk - Shirov
Wijk aan Zee 1996
21 iig7!
This fantastic queen sacrifice was
a piece of over-the-board inspiration
from the ever-creative Ukrainian. After
21...i.xg7 22 fxg7 lIg8 23 lLlxcS
White only has two minor pieces for
the queen but excellent positional
compensation and a highly dangerous
passed pawn.
Open files
Black experiences, as is normal in
chess, the most awkward problems in
the middlegame. This is mainly due to
his far more exposed king position;
White often launches an attack by