Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

The Semi-Slav has been one of the most topical openings of the last decade, and its most
critical variation is the Botvinnik System (5 Bg5 dxc4). Most of today's top grandmasters,
including Kasparov, Kramnik and Shirov, have relied on it as Black, White or both,
especially in make-or-break situations.
Black creates immediate imbalance by establishing a big queens ide majority, at the cost of
major damage to his kingside. Black tends to possess the long-term trumps, so the main
lines see White launching a massive attack against the black king . Black's standard
response is counterattack, and positions with bizarre material imbalances arise almost as
a matter of course.
To play such an opening successfully, one requires a firm grounding in the underlying
principles (such as there are!) and a detailed knowledge of specific variations. This book
provides both. The author is a well-known theoretician and player who has had a strong
interest in the Botvinnik System fo r many years - for instance the move 18 .. . d4, which
became the 'main line' in 1998, was first suggested by Pedersen in 1994.
Pedersen also discusses in depth the Moscow Variation (5 Bg5 h6), which is a calmer
option for Black, and a favourite of Anand and Dreev. This book therefore provides
comprehensive coverage of 5 Bg5 versus the Semi-Slav.
Steffen Pedersen is a young international master from Denmark. He achieved a
grandmaster norm when he was 16, and played in several World and European junior
championships. In 1998 he was joint winner of the Hampstead Grandmaster tournament.
He has written several highly-regarded opening books, with subjects including the Dutch
Defence, Sicilian Scheveningen and the Benko Gambit.
Other titles from Gambit Publications include:
Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess
VishyAnand
The Gambit Guide to the Bogo-Indian
Steffen Pedersen
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy
John Watson
The Gambit Guide to the Benko Gambit
Steffen Pedersen
The Gambit Guide to the Torre Attack
Graham Burgess
The Gambit Guide to the English Opening: 1 ... e5
Carsten Hansen
The Road to Chess Improvement
Alex Yermolinsky
101 Attacking Ideas in Chess
Joe Gallagher
£14.99
ISBN 1-901 S
us at:
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