Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

DEVIATIONS FROM THE MAIN LINE 217
the long run in view of his possession
of the bishop-pair. Therefore White
should seek to utilize his space advantage,
and with the text-move White attempts
to make this more apparent by
preparing e4. Of course, the immediate
7 e4 can be met by 7 ... dxe4 8lDxe4
i.b4+, so by taking away the ... i.b4+
option from Black, White argues that
he is now ready for e4.
7 ... lDd7
Black has two alternatives:
a) 7 ... dxc4 (it is of course also possible
to capture this way after White
has played e4, but by playing it immediately
Black assures that White has to
recapture with the queen) 8 'iWxc4lDd7
and now:
al) 9 e4 e5 10 d5 lDb6 11 'iWb3
i.c5 12 i.e2 i.g4 13 0-0 i.xf3 14
i.xf3 0-0 15 .:tac1 .:tac8 16 i.g4 .:tc7
= Kishnev-Lukacs, Budapest 1991.
a2) 9 .:tdl. This is aimed against
Black's freeing advance ... e5; if, for
example, 9 ... e5?, then 10 dxe5 lDxe5
11 'iWe4 i.d6 12 lhd6 wins; hence
Black has two options:
a21) 9 ... g6 10 g3 i.g7 11 i.h3 0-0
120-0 'iWe7 (with the idea ... lDb6 followed
by ... c5) 13lDe4 .:tb8 14 a3 .:te8
15 b4 a5! 16lDc5 axb417 axb4 .:ta8
with an equal position, Timman-I.Sokolov,
Dutch Ch (Rotterdam) 1997.
a22) 9 ... 'iWe7 (Black improves the
position of his queen and intends
... 'iWb4) 10 'iWb3 g6 11 e4 i.g7 12 e5
0-0 13 lDe4 c5 14 dxc5 lDxc5 15 'iWa3
b6 = Brenninkmeijer-Novikov, New
York 1993.
a3) 9 g3 with a further branch:
a31) 9 ... 'fIe7 1O.tg2 'ti'b411 'ii'xb4
(l1liJd2? 'fIxb2! 12 .l:tbl 'iWa3 13 0-0
lDb6 14 'iWd3 i.e7 15lDc4 'ii'a6! + Shirov-Anand,
Linares 1994) 11...i.xb4
120-00-013 .l:tac1.l:td8 14 a3 i.e7 15
.:tfd 1 lDf8 16 lDe5 .td7 17 lDe4 i.e8
18 e3 .l:tac8 = Gulko-Chernin, New
York 1998.
a32) 9 ... e5 lO O-O-O!? (other moves
promise Black an easy game) lO ... i.e7
l1lDe4 'ii'f5 12 'ii'c2 0-0 13 h4!? (13
~bllDf6! =) 13 ... exd4 14lDxd4 'ii'a5
15 ~bllDf616 e3lDd5 17 a3 i.g4! =
Timman-Gelfand, Belgrade 1995.
b) 7 ... a5 renews the possibility of
... i.b4+ after White plays e4, but
with dl available for his king, White
should probably try it anyway. 8 e4
(the most consistent, although 8 a3 is a
viable alternative; then 8 ... a4 9lDxa4
dxc4 lO 'ii'c2 'ii'd8 11 .:tdl b5 12lDc3
lDd7 13 e4lDb6 14 i.e2 i.b7 150-0
i.e7 16 d5!? exd5 17 exd5 lDxd5 18
a4 led to unclear play in S.Pedersen­
Cu. Hansen, Odense rpd 1996) 8 ... dxe4
9lDxe4 i.b4+ lO 'iitdl (10 'ii'xb4 axb4
11 lDxf6+ gxf6 is roughly equal)
lO ... 'ii'f4 11 i.d3 (11 'ii'e3 'ii'xe3 12
fxe3 i.e7 13 c5 lDd7 is, in spite of
White's space advantage, fine for
Black, who can break with either ... b6
or ... e5) 11...f5 (11...i.e7 12 lDe5 h5
13 g3 'ii'h6 14 'ii'b6! was very good for
White in Stohl-Kuczynski, Budapest
Z 1993) 12lDg3 c5! 13 a3 a4 14 'ii'c2
i.a5 15 lDe2! (15 'ti'xa4+?! i.d7 16
'iWc2 cxd4 and now 17 lDe2?! 'ii'g4!
was clearly better for Black in the