Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

212 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
b1) 12 Ac1 b6 (12 ... 'ii'a5!?) 13 dS!
(Black only needs to play ... .i.b7 to
stand well, but this excellent move
gives him no respite) 13 ... cxdS 14 cxdS
exdS (14 ... .i.a6 IS dxe6.i.xfl 16 'ii'xfl
fxe617lDd4lDcS!? 18lDc6! 'ii'e8 19
lDxe7+ 'fIxe7 20 lDxcs bxcS 21 .i.xa8
Axa8 22 'fIc4! ± Speelman) IS 'fIxdS
.i.a616 l:tfd1lDcS, Agdestein-Speelman,
Hastings 199112, and at this point
Speelman suggests 17 'fIhS! 'fIe8 (if
17 ... lDd3, then 18.i.fl!) 18lDeSlDxe4
(Black also comes under strong pressure
after 18 ... Ac8 19lDxcs: 19 ... .i.xcS
20 .i.dS! or 19 ... AxcS 20 l:txcS .i.xcs
21 .i.dS! .i.c8 and now, rather than
Speelman's 22 b4, 22 .i.xf7+ wins
outright) 19 .i.xe4 .i.gS (after 19 ... l:tc8
or 19 ... Ad8 White maintains the pressure
with 20 .i.c6!) 20 .i.xa8! and now,
instead of Speelman's 20 ... 'fIxa8? 21
l:tc7 ±, 20 ... 'fixeS! keeps Black in the
game.
b2) 12 cS!? b6 13 'ii'c2 'ii'c7 14
Aac1.i.b7 IS l:tfe1 Aad8 16 b4 (White
has built up typical Catalan pressure
where Black has a weak pawn on c6
and a horrible light-squared bishop;
White has a slightly weak d-pawn and
is weak on dS but Black cannot exploit
this) 16 ... lDf617lDxf6+.i.xf618 'fIc3
l:td7 19 lDeS .i.xeS 20 dxeS l:tfd8 21
'fIa3 bS 22 'fiB a5 23 a3 l:td3 24 .:te3
l:t3d4 2S l:tb1 l:t8d7 26 h4 ± Komarov­
Kramnik, USSR jr Ch (Kherson)
1991.
90-0.i.e7
Usually in the Moscow Variation,
Black retreats the queen from f6 before
developing the bishop but here Black
intends to play actively with a quick
... eS. Nevertheless, 9 ... 'fId8 also looks
perfectly playable; e.g., 10 e3 (10 e4
.i.e7 11 'fIc2, followed by Afd1 with
an active game for White, is also possible,
but the text-move should not be
underestimated) 10 ... .i.d6 11 'it'e2 0-0
12 Afd1 'We7 13 'fIxc4 eS 14 dS lDb6
IS 'ilh4! (after this strong move White
retains a small initiative due to his
better development but, as we shall
see, unfortunately not enough to
achieve anything tangible) lS ... cxdS
16 'ii'xe7 .i.xe7 17 lDxeS .i.f6 18 f4
.i.xeS 19 fxeS .i.e6 20 lDxdS lDxdS 21
.i.xdS .i.xdS 22 AxdS Aad8 23 Ad4 b6
24 Aad1 Ade8! and Black eventually
drew without too much trouble in Yermolinsky-I.Sokolov,
Wijk aan Zee
1997.
10 lDe4 'ii'f5 (D)
w
lllDed2
White regains the pawn immediately.
11 lDfd2 is worse since after
1l...lDb6! White has to work to get his