Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

218 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
game Novikov-Dreev, Lvov Z 1990;
even after the superior 17 'ir'c1 'ir'xc 1 +
18 l:txc1 liJc6 Dreev believes Black
has the better prospects) 15 ... 'ir'd6 (after
15 ... 'ir'g4 16liJe5! 'ir'xg2 17 l::tgl
'ir'xf2 18 'ir'xa4+ liJd7 19 b4 cxd4 20
l:txg7 White had a winning attack in
Novikov-Strokov, Alicante 1992) 16
'ir'xa4+ ~d7 17 'ir'c2 cxd4 18 c5 is
good for White - Stohl.
8 e4 dxe4 9 liJxe4 (D)
B
9 ... 'ir'f4
This is clearly the most ambitious
move for Black. By attacking the e4-
knight, Black wins a tempo to prepare
... e5. This is strategically very attractive
for Black, since with an open position
Black's bishops will soon excel.
However, the disadvantage is that
Black falls behind in development due
to the many queen moves and the
queen may also feel herself rather exposed
so far forward.
A safe alternative is 9 ... 'ir'f5 10 ~d3
'ir'a5+; my intuition tells me that Black
should be doing fairly OK here. For
example, 11 liJc3 (11 ~f1, as in Rylander-Ziegler,
Swedish Ch (Haninge)
1997, is perhaps worth investigating;
after 1l...~e7 12 l:tel liJf6 13 liJg3
'ii'b6 14 'ir'c2 c5 15 d5 exd5 16 cxd5
liJxd5 17 ~c4, Black came under
pressure but was able to avert the danger
after 17 ... liJb4 18 'ir'e4 liJc6 19
~d5 'ir'c7 20 liJh5 g6 21 liJg3 ~f8)
l1...e5! (11...~b4 12 0-0 ~xc3 13
bxc3 0-0 14 l:tfel 'ir'c7 15 l:tadl b6 16
~bl %:.d8 17 'ir'c2liJf8 18liJe5 ~b7
19 f4!? gave White an edge in Jasnikowski-Roogaard,
Arhus 1996) 120-0
exd4 13 :'fel + ~e7 14 liJxd4liJc5 15
'ir'c2 'ir'd8! with at least equality.
IO~d3
Timman's suggestion, 10 liJfd2!?,
intending to fianchetto the bishop, was
tried in Hillarp-Persson - Cu.Hansen,
Reykjavik 1998, but Black was able to
equalize following 10 ... ~e7 11 g3
'ir'c712~g2e5! 13d5f514liJc3liJc5
15 'ir'c2 e4 160-00-0 17 l:tadl ~f6 18
liJb3 liJxb3 19 'ir'xb3 'ir'b6 20 'ir'a3
~xc3 21 'ir'xc3 cxd5 22 l::txd5 ~e6 23
l::td4 %:.ad8 24 l::tfdl :'xd4 25 l::txd4
'ir'c5 26 b3 a5.
IO ... eS!?
10 ... ~e7 is more solid but slightly
passive; e.g., 11 0-00-0 12 :'fel and
now:
a) 12 ... l:td8 13 :'adl 'ir'c7 14 ~bl
liJf8 15 c5! b5 16 liJg3 ~d7 17 'ir'e3
~e818~c2a519a3l:ta720h4witha
promising position for White, Smyslov-Petrosian,
Moscow 1971.
b) 12 ... c5 13 :'adl cxd4 14liJxd4
liJc5 (14... l::td8!? is probably a more