Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

176 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SlAV
sure this is really necessary; at first
glance 20 ... i.xdS!? 21 tOxf6+ tOxf6
22 i.xdS tOxdS 23 'ir'xdS looks very
unpleasant, but it is not clear that White
can exploit the pin; e.g., 23 ... l:taf8 24
.l:.ael 'ii'd8 2S 'ir'e6 i.xb2 26 .l:.e4 'iVd7
27 .l:.g4+ i.g7 28 .l:.xg7+ r1;xg7 29
i.eS+ ~g8 30 'ir'g6+ .l:.g7 31 .l:.xf8+
r1;xf8 32 i.xg7+ 'ii'xg7 33 'i'fS+ results
in a likely draw) 21 .l:.xf7 'iVxf7
22 i.xf7+ ~xf7, Khalifman-Morovic,
Piirnu 1998, and now the simplest
would have been 23 'i'f3+ tOdf6 24
.l:.dl, when White is clearly better in
view of the passed d-pawn.
13 'iVc2 (D)
B
13 ..• tOxe5
The stem game with this variation
continued 13 ... i.g7 14 .l:.adl 'iVb6 IS
tOa4! 'ii'a5? (White only retains a slight
edge after IS ... bxa4 16 tOxc4 'ii'b4 17
eS tOdS 18 a3 'iWb3 19 'iWxb3 axb3 20
tOd6+ ~e7 21 tOxb7 a5 -I.Sokolov)
16 tOcs tOxcs 17 dxcS 'iVb4 18 .l:.d6!
'iVxcS 19 .l:.fd 1 and now there are two
options for Black:
a) 19 ... 'iVb6 and now I.Sokolov
goes on with a lengthy analysis of 20
tOxf7!? but in the end concludes that
20 tOd7 is probably a simpler solution.
For example, 20 ... tOxd7 21 .l:.xd7 i.c8
22 .l:.d8+ 'iWxd8 23 .l:.xd8+ r1;xd8 24
'i'd2+ r1;e8 2S 'iVgS with a strong attack.
b) 19 ... 0-0 20 tOd7! tOxd7 21 .l:.xd7
'iVb6 22 'iVcl!, intending 'iVgS, gave
White a winning attack in I.Sokolov­
Novikov, Antwerp 1997.
I should mention that this game featured
the move-order 9 h4!? g4 10
tOeS hS 11 i.e2 i.b7, etc., but it was
I.Sokolov's idea of 9 h4!? that started
the explosion of interest in this particular
line.
14 .txe5 .l:.g8 15 .l:.adl (D)
Lutz has been advocating centralizing
the other rook, and since White is
not going to open the f-file anyway,
this contains a dose of logic. A line of
his runs ISl:tfdl tOd7 16 i.g3 'iWb6 17
b3 cxb3 18 axb3 .l:.c8?! 19 eS!, which
he assesses as clearly better for White,
and I wholeheartedly agree with this.
White is ready to bring his knight into
e4, from where it may continue its
journey towards f6 or d6. However, it
puzzles me why Lutz gives the clearly
inferior 18 ... .l:.c8 instead of the key
move 18 ... i.b4!, which is well-known
from the main line. The fact that White
has a rook on al rather than fl does not
seem to make much difference.
15 ..• tOd7
Black can also choose the strangelooking
IS ... .l:.g6. It is obvious that