Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

THE ANTI-MoSCOW VARIATION: 6 ~h4!? 165
This is an extremely ambitious attempt
but in view of Sakaev's fantastic
12 lLlcS!, it can now more or less be
written off. Since White's knight has
to move, Black will gain the e4-pawn,
and, he hopes, will be able to exchange
off White's dark-squared bishop. But
as we shall see, White will be able to
keep this bishop alive and, just as importantly,
obtain a dangerous initiative.
10 lLla4
This is definitely best. Even though
it is not strictly necessary, White is advised
to move the knight and from a4
it keeps on eye on the cS-square. Others:
a) 10 eS? bxc3 11 exf6 cxb2 12
%:tb1 'iWaS+ 13 cJi>f1 c3 +- Pecorelli
Garcia-Nogueiras, Villa Clara 1998.
b) 10 tiJb1 tiJxe4 11 0-0 i..g7 12
i..eS tiJf6 13 tiJbd2 c3 14 bxc3 bxc3 IS
tiJc4 0-0 16 i..d6 lIe8 17 tiJfeS i..a6!?
18 i..xb8 i..xc4 19 i..xc4 l:txb8 +
Karason-Thorsteinsson, Icelandic Ch
(Akureyri) 1997.
10 ..• tiJxe4 11 .teS!
Unfortunately White does not have
to cooperate! l1...f6? is now too loosening
in view of 12 'iWc2!, so by moving
the bishop and simultaneously
attacking the rook, White gets time to
deal with the e4-knight. An alternative
is 11 i..xc4 but as has been shown,
Black's life is a lot easier without
White's dark-squared bishop. After
11...lLlxg3 12 hxg3 (Timman's suggestion
of instead opening the f-file by
12 fxg3!? remains untested) 12 ... tiJd7
13 0-0 i..g7 14 %:tel 0-0 White seems
to have fairly decent compensation.
Black's pawn-structure is the usual
mess but he still has one pawn more,
and White needs a real target. The c­
pawn is the most obvious, and there
are two ways to begin the pressure
against it:
a) IS l:tc1 is the most logical but,
as pointed out by Timman, this allows
Black to equalize with lS ... tiJb6!? 16
i..b3 tiJxa4 17 i..xa4 i..b7 18 i..xc6
i..xc6 19 %:txc6 'iWdS 20 'iWa4 l:tfd8,
rather than IS ... i..b7 16 i..d3 cS (this
does not look very convincing, but
Black needs to free his position somehow)
17 dxcS i..c6 18 i..e4 'iWc7 19
i..xc6 'iWxc6 20 %:te2!, when Black was
struggling because of White's strong
passed pawn and good control of the
centre in Korchnoi-Timman, Wijk aan
Zee 1997.
b) IS .td3!? anticipates the ... tiJb6
idea and was suggested by Timman afterwards,
with the intention of meeting
lS ... tiJb6 with 16 tiJcS.
11 ... tiJf6 (D)
If this is the big idea of the 9 ... b4?!
line, I am not surprised that White is
able to find a refutation. The logic behind
it is less than impressive. Black
exchanges his c-pawn for White's e­
pawn but also wrecks his own pawnstructure
even more. However, 11.. .:g8
has no bright future either:
a) 12 i..xc4 g4 13 tiJd2 tiJxd2 14
'iWxd2 lLld7 IS i..f4 'iWaS 16 lLlcs tiJxcs
17 dxcS i..xcs 18 :dl i..e7 190-0 ±
Ligterink-Kuijf, Dutch Ch (Hilversum)
1986.