Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

136 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SlAV
this a little further: 17 ttJxbS .tb4+ 18
ttJc3 (it is not clear how Black responds
best to 18 ~dl, but presumably
by 18 ... 0-0, with the idea that 19
.txc4 can be met by 19 ... h3 20 l::tg 1
hxg2 21 f3 ttJd7!) 18 ... ttJc6!? 19 ttJxc6
(19 ttJxc4 0-0-0 looks promising for
Black with ... ttJd4 coming) 19 ... .txc6
200-0-0 and then 20 ... .txc3 21 bxc3 h3
22 :'gl .txa4 23 l:!.d4 with a roughly
equal position. If Black wants more
than this, 20 ... l::tg8 21 l:!.gl .tcS looks
worth a try.
14 .... tWxc5 15 l:!.a4 .tg7 16 :'xc4
~e7 17 .te2 0-0 180-0 h3 19 g3 l::td8
The position is approximately balanced,
Vescovi-Matsuura, Sao Paulo
Z 1995.
e2}
1l ... .th712 .te2 (D)
It becomes apparent there is little
logic in other moves as soon as it is noticed
that 12 axbS cS 13 b6 backfires
after 13 ... cxd4 14 'iia4+ ~d8 IS 'iiaS
.td6!? 16 bxa7+ ~e7! - Korchnoi.
12 ... ttJd7!
Was this not the kind of thing White
was trying to prevent with 11 a4? Yet
again Black seems to get away with
this move; if this is true, the whole 9
exf6 system can be put on the shelf.
Just in case, here is a survey of the
other options, which are by no means
less exciting:
a) 12 ... .td6? 13lDe4 .tb4+ 14 ~f1
'iig7 IS .tf3 0-0 16 axbS f6 17 ttJxc4
cxbS 18 ttJcd6 .tdS 19 ttJcs ± Lukacs­
Nemeth, Budapest 1986.
b) 12 ... h3 13 .thS! hxg2 (Black
should probably refrain from this but
then it is hard to see the point of
12 ... h3; nonetheless 13 ... :'h7 14 g3
ttJd7 IS 0-0 0-0-0 16 'iic2 ttJxeS 17
dxeS'iifS 18 'iixfS exfS 19 axbS .tcS
gave Black reasonable counterplay in
Guimaraes-Matsuura, Brazilian Ch
(Rio de Janeiro) 1998) 14 l:!.gl :'h7 IS
.tf3 a6 (or IS ... 'iie7 16 :'xg2 l:!.g7 17
ttJe4 a6 18 ttJcS :'xg2 19 .txg2 .tg7
20 'iig4 ~f8 210-0-0 .tc8 22 f4 with
a fantastic position for White, Wells­
Shabalov, London Lloyds Bank 1994)
16 axbS axbS 17 :'xa8 .txa8 18 'iial
.tb7 19 'iia7 ttJd7 20 ttJxd7 'iixf3 21
ttJeS 1-0 Ikonnikov-Godena, Vienna
1991.
c) 12 ... cS. This seems more to the
point but Black still has to go through
a lot of nerve-wracking defending
mixed with counter-attacking threats
before reaching his goal. We shall
look at:
c1) 13 ttJxbS ttJa6 (13 ... cxd4 14
0.c7+ ~d8 IS 'iixd4+