Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

216 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SIA V
'ili'g4 21 i.e2 i.f3+ 22 ~f2 'ili'g2+ 23
~el i.xe2 24 lLlxe2 ':c2 looks sufficiently
dangerous to secure a draw)
19 .. .1hf7 20 l:txa7 i.xfl 21 'ili'xf7+
~h7 22 'iftxfl i.xc3 23 'ili'd7! (23 bxc3
l:txc3 is just equal as White's king is
too exposed to make any winning attempts
realistic) 23 ... i.d4! (this brilliant
move had to be foreseen on move
18; if 23 ... l:tc5, 24 'ili'd3+ ~g8 25 bxc3
gives White good winning chances as
suddenly it is Black's king that is exposed)
24 'ii'xd4 l::tel+ 25 ~g2 'ii'g5+
26 ~f3 'ii'f5+ 27 'ii'f4 'ii'h3+ 28 'ii' g3
'ii'fS+ 29 'iftg2 'ii'dS+ 30 'ifth3 'fihS+
31 ~g2 'ii'dS+ 112_112 Lautier-Illescas,
Khalkidhiki 1992.
b2) 15 i.xc4!? (could this be the
reason for Kramnik avoiding 14 ... e5?;
at any rate I am surprised White has
not tried it yet) 15 ... i.xf3 16 gxf3 exd4
(16 ... 'iIi'xf3 17 i.dS 'ii'g4+ 18 ~hl
l::tad8 19 l:tg 1 'ii'hS 20 l:tg3! ±) 17lLld5
'ii'g5+ 18 ~hl i.d6 (18 ... 'iIi'h5 19 'ii'dl!
lLleS 20 l:tgl 'ii'xf3+ 21 'ii'xf3lLlxf3 22
lLlxb4lLlxgl 23 ~xgl with the better
ending for White) 19 f4 'fihS 20 'ii'dl
'ii'xdl 21 l:tfxdl ~.
15 l:tfc1
Others do not promise anything:
a) 15 l::tfdl as 16lLld2lLlb617 i.f3
lLld5 18 lLlde4 'ii'e7 19 lLla4 l::tab8 20
lLlec5 i.c6 21 l:tdel i.b5 22 h3 'ii'd8
23 i.e2 c3 24 lLlxc3 lLlxc3 25 bxc3
i.xc5 26 dxc5 l:txcS 27 i.xbS ':bxb5
28 l:ta4 = Lacrosse-Novikov, Antwerp
1996.
b) 15 lLld2lLlb6 16 i.f3 lLld5 17
l::tfel as 18 'ii'dl'fie7 19 i.e2lLlb6 20
lLlf3 i.d5 21 lLleS i.d6 22 lLlf3 'ii'b7
and Black is slightly better, Bjerke­
Agdestein, Norwegian Ch 1986.
IS ... aS 16 lLla4 l::tabS 17 'iidl eS!
With this pawn sacrifice Black
solves most of his problems and leaves
White with a worthless extra pawn.
ISl:txc4
18 dxeS?! is wrong due to 18 ... lLlxe5
19 lLlxe5 'ii'xeS and Black obtains
promising attacking chances in view
of his powerful bishops. For example,
if 20 l:txc4 then 20 ... l::txc4 21 i.xc4
i.d6 22 g3 'fie4, so White must already
think about equalizing; 20 'ili'd4
is probably best.
IS ... l::txc4 19 i.xc4
112-112 Beliavsky-Kramnik, Dortmund
1998. 19 ... i.xf3 20 'fixf3 'ii'xf3
21 gxf3 exd4 22 exd4 lLlb6 23 lLlxb6
l::txb6 is completely equal.
C)
7 'iib3 (D)
B
As pointed out earlier, Black's
chances are probably slightly better in