Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

150 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
would rather play Black if I should
choose a colour, Ragozin-Szily, Moscow-Budapest
1949. Black has the
more active pieces and it is not clear
what White's plan consists of.
b223) 13 tLlh4!? 'Wd8!? 14 i.hS+
(14 'iVcl is maybe better) 14 ... 'ifi>e7 IS
'iVe2 tLld7 16 eS?! tLlxeS 17 lIadl tLld3
18 tLlfS+ ~d7 19 tLle4 i.e7 =+= Zaid­
Novikov, Lvov 1986.
b23) 1l...tLld7!? 12 tLld4 cS? (the
alternative 12 ... cxdS 13 exdS i.cs is
better) 13 tLlc6 1:.g8 14 i.hS (14 dxe6
'Wxc6 IS exd7+ 'iVxd7 16 'ilt'xd7+ 'ifi>xd7
17 1:.fd 1 + rJi;e7 is probably not much
for White) 14 ... i.xc6 IS dxe6! (better
than IS dxc6) IS ... tLleS 16 axbS i.xbS
17 'WdS! (17 i.xf7+ tLlxf7 18 exf7+
rJi;xf7 and now 19 tLlxbSlId8 20 ~hS+
~g7 21 tLlc3 gives White an edge, but
19 'WdS+ ~e6! 20 ~xa8?! allows a
perpetual check with 20 ... lIxg2+ 21
'iti>xg2 ~g4+ 22 'ifi>hl 'iVf3+) 17 ... lIa7
18 tLlxbS ~xbS 19lIfdi with a winning
attack for White, Bellon-Antunes,
Platja d' Aro 1994.
b24) 11...cxdS!? 12 exdS tLld7 13
axbS axbS 14 .l:ha8+ i.xa8 IS b3!? (IS
tLld4 i.cs 16 tLldxbS tLleS 17 b4 i.e7
18 'iti>hl 0-0 19 f4 tLld3 20 i.xd3 cxd3
21 1:.f3 Wh8 22 ~xd3 i.xb4 23 tLla4
'WaS 24lIh3 fS 2S1:txh7+ 112-112 Gorelov-Kishnev,
Barnau11984) IS ... i.b4
16 tLla2 i.cs 17 bxc4 b4 is unclear according
to Hubner.
11 b3!?
11 'i'd2 tLld7 (ll...lId7!? 12 ~f4
i.g7 is worth considering) 12 dS cxdS
13 exdS tLlcs 14 'ilt'e3 lIb7 IS axbS
axbS 16lIa8lIb8 17 lIxb8 'i'xb8 18
tLld4 gave White an initiative in Kelecevi6-Shifrer,
Yugoslavia 1985.
11 ... exb3!
In Lukacs-H6Izl, Budapest 1987,
White was able to create problems for
Black after 11 ... b4 12 as ~d8 13 tLla4
c3 14 tLlb6 tLld7 IS tLlxc8 ~xc8 16
dS!.
12 'iVxb3 tLld7 13 lIfc1
It is also worth considering the immediate
13 dS!? but whether it is
stronger than in the game is not clear.
13 ... lIe7 14lIabl i.e7 15 d5 tLle5
An interesting possibility is here
IS ... b4!?, when after 16 dxe6 fxe6, 17
~xe6 ~aS looks good for Black, but
White can try 17 eS!?, leading to great
complications.
16 'iVdl b4 17li'd4 tLld7
But not 17 ... aS?! 18 d6 eS? 19
tLlxeS!.
18 'iVxb6 tLlxb6 19 a5
In the post-mortem we concluded
that 19 tLla2! would have been better.
19 ... tLla8! 20 tLla4 exd5 21 tLlb6!?
lIxc1 + 22 lIxc1 tLlxb6 23 axb6
Kroll-S.Pedersen, Danish League
1995. Now the continuation 23 ... 'it>d7!
24lIc7+ 'ifi>d6 would have been very
good for Black.