Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

204 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
Then Black has tried:
a) 11...0-0?! is inaccurate and lets
White immediately transform into a
favourable structure with 12 b5 li'd6
13 bxc6 bxc6 14ltc1. White is ready
to play lLla4 with a bind, and is therefore
clearly better. In Ruban-Lazic,
Yugoslavia 1993 Black tried to avoid
this by 14 ... c5 but was presented with
yet another problem after 15 dxc5
lLlxc5 16 i.c4!.
b) 11...lLlb6 12ltc1 i.g4 13 i.e2
i.xf3 14 i.xf3 0-0 15 b5 'iWd6 16 'iWd3
(Lutz suggests another interesting
plan, viz. 16lLla4!? with the idea that
White will win back his pawn after
16 ... cxb5 17lLlxb6 axb6 IS 'iWb3, and
if 16 ... lLlc4 17lLlc5 b61SlLld3 White
can again win back the pawn after
IS ... cxb5 19 lLlf4) 16 ... 'iWa3 17 ltbl
ltfdS IS l:lb3 'ike7 19 bxc6 bxc6 20
l:ldl ;j; Lutz-Korchnoi, Ptuj 1995.
c) 11...'iWd6!? 12 'iWb3 (12 b5 can
now be answered by 12 ... c5!) 12 ... lLlb6
(again the most accurate since White
was ready to play b5) 13 a4 i.e6 14
lLld2 lLld7 15 lLle2 0-0 16 ltfc1 ltfeS
17 ltablltacS IS a5 i.g4 is roughly
equal, P.Cramling-Korchnoi, Prague
(Women vs Veterans) 1995.
9 ... dxe4
9 ... dxc4 transposes to Chapter 15;
e.g., Line B2 after 10 e5 'ike7 11 i.xc4
i.g7 12 0-0.
10 lLlxe4 i.b4+ 11 ~e2
This seems more logical than 11
~f1 but it is not entirely clear whether
it is really better. The problem for
Black is now that his queen is attacked
and hence White will gain a tempo for
c5, which cuts off Black's dark-squared
bishop.
11 ... li'g7!
11... 'ikdS 12 c5 0-0 13 h4 gave
White a promising attack in Ribli-Farago,
Hungarian Ch 1977.
12 e5 i.a5
Forced, or else White will trap the
bishop by 'iWa4.
13 lLld6+ ~e7 14 'ii'b3 i.e7 15
lthel!?
15 lLlxcs+ lthxcS 16 'iixb7 ltabS
17 'iixa7 ltxb2+ gives Black some
counterplay, although it is far from
certain whether it sufficiently compensates
the pawn. At any rate, this might
be an argument for placing the king on
f1 at move 11.
15 ... i.xd616 exd6+ ~xd617 'iitn
~e7 18 l:lac1lLlb6 19 lLle5
White has reasonable compensation
for the pawn, Topalov-Ljubojevic,
Monaco Amber rpd 1995.
B)
8 ... i.d6 9 0-0 'ii'e710 e5! (D)