Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

lI8
THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SU V
safe with the enemy queen hovering
nearby and moves like ... .Jtb7 and
... .Jtf4 on Black's agenda, it is in reality
safer than its opposite number.
White threatens liJxbS, and sometimes
i.hS+ is annoying. Black's greatest
problem, however, is that after liJxbS
the c4-pawn becomes sensitive, and
falls if Black cannot maintain the
knight on eS. In fact, this is just what
happened in the game: 15 ... .Jtb7
(lS ... i.xc3 16 :'xc3! has proved good
for White) 16 liJxb5! .Jtxc5 17 liJg6!!
(deflecting the black knight from eS)
17 ... liJxg6 18 :'xc4 liJdf4 19 l:f.xc5
l:f.d8 20 liJd6+ :'xd6 21 .Jtb5+ rt;f7 22
'ii'xd6 and White won in a few more
moves.
Quick Summary
White has an immediate choice between
10 liJf3 (Line A) and 10 liJxf7!
(Line B). While 10 liJf3 avoids the
great complications arising from accepting
the sacrifice, I very much trust
Black's prospects in this line. Unfortunately,
this does not apply to 10
liJxf7!, which, despite how much I
want it to work for Black, I think is extremely
good for White. The correct
line is, after 1O ... 'ii'xh4 11 liJxh8 .Jtb4,
12 :'c1! (Line B2). 12 ... 'ii'e4+? has
been refuted and the attempt to rehabilitate
the line with 12 ... cS 13 dxcS
'ifgS does not look very promising due
to 14 .Jte2 .Jtb7 IS .JthS+! ~f8 16
liJf7! 'ii'xg2 17 .Jtf3 'ifg7 18 liJd8!. 12
a3 is an interesting alternative, which
looks promising.
The Theory of Alatortsev's
9 ... ttJd5
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 liJf3 liJf6 4 liJc3 e6 5
i.g5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 .Jth4 g5 9
tLJxg5 liJd5?!
Now:
A: 10 liJf3 118
B: 10 liJxf7! 120
A)
10 liJf3
White actually scores better with
this quiet move than with 10 liJxf7.
However, I think that Black has less to
fear here, and, perhaps more importantly,
Black can already claim a
moral victory in that White does not
dare to enter the complications after
10 liJxf7.
10 ... 'i*'aS 11 :'cl
11 'iWd2 allows 11...b4!? 12 liJxdS
(12 liJe4 .Jta6 is also satisfactory for
Black) 12 ... cxdS 13 .Jte2, as played in
Flohr-Stahlberg, Zurich 1934, and
now 13 ... .Jta6100ks fine for Black.
11 ... .Jtb4 12 'iVd2 liJd7 13 .Jte2 ( D)
B