Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

194 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SlAV
was seen in Dautov-Fridman, Pula
Echt 1997: 16 ... 'iff8!? (now d4-dS-d6
will not come with tempo) 17 h4 cS 18
dS .i.b7 (with the queen on e7, White
would be able to play 19 d6 'iff8 20
.i.e4!) 19 hS exdS 20 hxg6 and now
Sadler considers 20 ... f6!? 21 e6liJeS
as a good chance for Black.
c1242) 16 ... .i.b7 17 .i.e4liJf8 (or
17 ... bS 18 'ife3 :tdc8 19liJd2 'iff8 20
f4 a6 21 'iff3 .i.a8 22 a3 cS with counterplay,
Bacrot-Godena, Elista OL
1998) 18 g3 :bc8 19 a3 :c7 20 :tedl
cS 21 .i.xb7 lbb7 22 liJe4 with an
edge for White, Ivanchuk-Kramnik,
Novgorod 1996.
c2) 13 eS Ad8 14 'ife2 cS!? (after
14 ... b6 IS :fel we have transposed to
'el2' above) IS dSliJxeS!? 16liJxeS
exdS 17 liJf3 'ifxe2 18 .i.xe2 .i.e6 (I
am amazed that Black can get away
with such a sacrifice but White's problem
is that there is no clear way of
improving his position as Black's
pawns restrict the knights very well)
19liJbS!? (M.Gurevich also analyses
19 :tfdl %tac8 20 liJa4 b6 21.i.a6 %tc7
22 b4 .i.f8 23 'ifi>f1 .i.d6 24 bxcS bxcS
2S liJc3 .i.f4, when Black maintains
his pawn-centre and has good compensation)
19 ... :dc8 20 b4 (White
logically attempts to destroy the centre)
20 ... cxb4 (20 ... b6 21 bxcS bxcS 22
:fdl a6 23 liJc3 is very good for
White since Black will be forced to
weaken his centre by moving one of
the pawns) 21 liJc7 Aab8 22 .i.bS
cJi>f8! (White was threatening 23liJxe6
fxe6 24 .i.d7) 23 .i.a4 (23liJxe6+ fxe6
24 ':xc8+ ':xc8 2S .i.d7 %tc2 26 .i.xe6
:txa2 27 .i.xdS %tc2 is stronger according
to M.Gurevich, but the issue
remains unclear) 23 ... .i.fS! 24liJxdS
bS 2S .i.b3 as with strong counterplay,
Hillarp Persson-M.Gurevich, Korinthos
1998.
Returning to the position after
1l...0-0(D):
12 :tel
This little move was for a short period
quite popular but now 1 do not
think that White is able to get any advantage
with it. Here is a summary of
the other options:
a) 12 b4 is considered in the note to
White's 12th move in Line B3.
b) 12 .i.b3 l:[d8 13 'ifc2 'ife7 14
:tfdl (this is too slow; White should
play 14liJe4, transposing to 'c' below)
14 ... b6 IS a3 .i.b7 16 .i.a2 a6 17
liJd2?! (White should try 17 e4 cS 18
dS bS but this kind of structure is usually
not in White's favour as Black has
plenty of counterplay due to his strong
bishop on g7, which assists the 3 vs 2