Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

138 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
(Piskov-S.Ivanov, Moscow 1986) 19
liJe4 leads to a distinct advantage for
White.
c22) 13 ... i.g7 (voluntarily giving
up on the defence of f7, but in return
Black will get a few 'free' moves) 14
i.xf7+ ~e7 15 f4. White could also
return the bishop to h5, but it must be
right to try to maintain the outpost on
e5. Now we have:
c221) 15 ... liJc6 16 0-0 liJxe5 17
fxe5 'iWg5 18 d5! 'iVxe5 19 i.xe6 and
White is gradually taking over, Tukmakov-Kuijf,
Wijk aan Zee 1991.
c222) 15 ... l:td8 16 0-0 b4 is interesting
but this is only relevant if
Black wants to play stubbornly for a
win since line 'c223' looks fine for
Black.
c223) 15 ... i.xg2!? was Wells's preference
in The Complete Semi-Slav and
it must have been an awkward surprise
when he was faced with it soon after
his book was released! Wells-Lukacs,
Budapest 1994 now went 16 l:tg1 h3
17 'iWg4 (Wells had published his analysis
this far) 17 ... liJd7! 18 i.xe6 (according
to Lukacs, White can make a
draw with 18 :'xg2! hxg2 19 i.xe6
gl'iV+! 20'iVxg1 'iVh4+21 ~e2i.xe5!
22 dxe5 '1txe6 23 'iVg6+ liJf6! 24 exf6
l:thg8 25 'iWe4+ '1txf6 26 liJd5+ ~f7
27 'iVf5+ but nothing more) 18 ... h5 19
'iWg3 ~xe6 20 l:txg2 hxg2 21 'ii'h3+
'iWf5 22 d5+ ~e7 23 d6+ ~e6 24
'iWxg2 i.xe5 25 'iWd5+ ~f6 0-1.
13liJxd7
I also prefer Black after 13 liJe4
i.b4+ 14 '1tfl 'iWf5 15liJxd7 ~xd7 16
i.f3 '1tc8! 17 b3 :'d8, while Sadler's
13 f4!? is best met by 13 ... b4 14 i.h5
l:th7 15 liJe2 h3!?
13 ... '1txd7 14 i.f3 a6 15 axb5
I don't see why White should want
to exchange many pieces in this line,
so 15 0-0 looks like a better try, intending
liJe4-c5, claiming that the
two-pawn deficit does not mean that
much as long as Black's light-squared
bishop does not participate. However,
Black seems to solve this problem by
playing 15 ... i.g7! 16 axb5 (16 liJe4
'iWxd4 gives White nothing) 16 ... axb5
17liJxb5 :'xal18 'iWxal :'a8 19liJa3
h3.
15 ... axb5 16 lha8 i.xa8 17 'iVaI
i.b7 18 'fJa7 '1tc8 19 0-0
19 liJxb5 i.b4+ is very good for
Black.
19 ... l:tg8 20 i..e4 'iVf4 21 l:te1 f5
Black has a winning advantage,
Bellon-Lu.Perez, Havana Capablanca
mem 1999.
C3)
1l ... h3!? (D)
w