Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

THE ANTI-MoSCOW VARIATION: 6 .i.h4!? 159
very promising for White at the moment.
11 dxe6 bxc3 12 exd7+ 'ilVxd7
12 ... .txd7 has been the attempted
improvement (see the Theory Section).
13 'ii'c2 g4 14 l:tdl 'ii'b7 15 tLle5
'ii'xb2 16 'ii'a4 'ii'b5? 17l:td8+! 1-0
The move e5 is seen once in a
while, usually with the idea of creating
a square for the knight on e4 but
also ...
Opening an entrance for the queen
Sometimes the somewhat anti-positional
e4-e5 serves another purpose,
viz. to open a line for White's queen to
penetrate into Black's position.
W
Lobron - Siobodjan
Nussloch 1996
15 i.xf6! i.xf6 16 e5 .te7 17 'ii'h7
l:tf8 18 .th5
White already has a strong attack,
but thanks to Black's inferior defence
it soon became stronger still ...
18 ... 'ii'd7?! 19 tLle4 'ii'c7 20 tLlc5!
.tc8 21 f4
White went on to win.
Quick Summary
As a whole the Anti-Moscow Variation,
6 .th4!?, looks very promising
for White at the moment. There is no
safe line for Black and each time Black
reinforces his defence, White comes up
with a new idea.
Play generally continues 6 ... dxc4 7
e4 g5 8 .tg3 b5 9 .te2. Then Line A,
9 ... b4?!, can be written off in view of
Sakaev's splendid novelty 12 tLlc5!
(after 10 tLla4 tLlxe4 11 .te5 tLlf6), and
even though his opponent did not defend
optimally, I will not advise for a
repetition.
9 ... .tb4 (Line B) is becoming increasingly
popular and may be where
Black should look for new ideas.
9 ... .tb7 (Line C) and 9 ... tLlbd7 (Line
D) both look risky for Black at the moment,
9 ... .tb7 in view of 10 h4! (Line
C3) 1O ... g4 11 tLle5; and 9 ... tLlbd7,
which is right now very fashionable,
due to 10 d5!.
The Theory of the Anti­
Moscow Variation
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 tLlf3 tDf6 4 tLlc3 e6 5
.tg5 h6 6 .th4 (D)
6 ... dxc4 7 e4
The most aggressive and the only
critical continuation. Others:
a) The pre-emptive 7 a4 is best met
by 7 ... .tb4, when 8 e3 transposes to