Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

198 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
but White has to be praised for finding
a way to complicate things) 20 ... c4 21
dxe6 fxe6 22 .tc2 (22 .tdl tiJc5 +)
22 ... 1Wxb2 23 1We4 Ac7, Cebalo-Scekie.
Nova Gorica 1997, and now White
could claim reasonable compensation
with 24 Abl 'i'xa2 25 lhb5 tiJf8 26
:eb 1 - Sceki6.
12 dS tiJb6 13 ~b3
If White wishes to avoid the forthcoming
endgame he should try 13 tiJd2
but Black's chances are not worse:
a) 13 ...'ii'g5 14 'ii'e2 0-0 15 l:tfdl
~h3 16 f3 Aad8 17 ~b3 ~c8 18 tiJc4
tiJxc4 19 ~xc4 with an edge for
White, Piket-Van der Wiel, Dutch Ch
(Rotterdam) 1998.
b) 13 ... 0-0 14 a4 l:td8 15 a5 tiJxc4
16 tiJxc4 'Ii' g5 17 'ii'b3 ~h3 18 tiJe3
':ab8 19 l:tacl ~f8 20 ~hl ~d7 21
tiJe2 cxd5 22 tiJxd5 ~e6 was fine for
Black in Piket -Kramnik, Linares 1997.
13 ... ~g4!
The resulting endgame is probably
a tiny bit better for White but Black
should still play this, for after 13 ... 0-0
14 h3! the bishop is deprived of much
of its scope and Black has no convincing
counterplay to contain White's
passed d-pawn; e.g., 14 ...':d8 15 'ii'e2
~d7 16 Afdl ':ac8 (16... c5 17 tiJd2
tiJc8 18 ~a4 Ab8 19 ~xd7 ':xd7 20
a4 ± Anastasian-Pelletier, Pula Echt
1997) 17 a4 cxd5 18 ~xd5 (18 exd5!)
18 ... tiJxd519 tiJxd5 'li'e6 with roughly
equal chances, Shulman-Ippolito, Linares
1997.
14 h3 ~xf3 15 'iixf3 'ii'xf3 16 gxf3
~e717 dxc6 bxc6 (D)
White's chances ought to be slightly
better as the c6-pawn is weaker than
the doubled f-pawns. However, Black
has had few problems defending this
position in practice. Both sides have
little chance of generating an attack,
so here the opposite-coloured bishops
are often only a drawing factor.
w
IS':ac1!?
In the game Khalifman-Akopian,
Erevan 1996, White used the other
rook and immediately began redeploying
the knight: 18 l:.fc1 l:.hd8 19
tiJd 1 l:td6 20 l:tc3 a5!? 21 tiJe3 h5 22
Ibcl a4 23 ~dl ~d7 24 ~f1 ~h6
with a roughly equal position.
IS ..• l:tabS
If Black embarks on the plan chosen
by Akopian, White can here exchange
a rook with l:tfdl. Swapping
one pair of rooks actually increases
the pressure as Black will then often
end up with two weaknesses (c6 and
f7). Take, for example, a position with
a white rook on the c-file and one pair
of rooks and the knights exchanged