Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

42 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SlAV
mix things up. 18 .. :iWa6 19 .txb7+
'iixb7 20 'iWg4 gives White a clear advantage,
while 18 ... 'iif5 19 .txb7+
~xb7 20 .tf4 'iWxf6 (or 20 .. J:tc8 21
'iWf3+ ~a6 22 a3 ±) 21 l:te8! .tg7 22
l:txh8 .txh8 23 'iWd5+ 'iWc6 24 tiJxc5+
was played in Agzamov-Timoshchenko,
USSR 1982, and also here White
was clearly on top.
19.txb7+
19 'iWxd8+ ~xd8 20 i.xb7 appeared
in Shirov-Piket, Aruba (4) 1995, but
now Black blundered with 20 .. .'~c7??,
when White obtained a more or less
winning position after 21 .tg2 'iWd7 22
.tf4! 'iWxa4 23 .txe5+ (Shirov suggests
23 a3! as being even stronger)
23 ... ~b6 24 l:tadl (threatening l:td8).
However, Shirov thinks that Black can
save himself with 20 ... 'iWf5!, and proposes
the following variations:
a) 21 l:tad 1 + tiJd3 22 .tf4 .td6! 23
.te4 'iWh3 24 lhd3 cxd3 25 .txd6
'iWxh2+26~f1 'iWhl+27 .txhl l:txhl+
28 ~g2 l:txel 29 .tf4 c4! and Black is
better.
b) 21 l:txe5 'iWxe5 22 l:td 1 + ~c7 23
.tf4 'iWxf4 24 gxf4 ~xb7 25 :c1 l:th6
26 l:txc4 ~c6 and the ending is approximately
equal.
19 ... ~xb7
19 ... ~c7 20 'iWe2 +-.
20 'ifxd8 tiJf3+ 21 ~g2 'ifc6
This was the reason that Shirov rejected
19 .txb7 in his encounter with
Piket. Agzamov also analyses the continuation
21. .. tiJxel + 22 :xel 'iixel
23 'iWd7+ ~a6 24 'iWc6+ ~a5 25 .tf4,
which is winning for White, and the
same applies to 21...'iWf5 22 l:te7+
.txe7 23 'iixh8 +-.
22l:te8! (D)
This cool move, indicated by Burgess
in NCO, was missed by Shirov,
who had only reckoned on 22 l:te7+,
when Black has a strong attack after
22 ... .txe7 23 'iWxh8 (23 'iWxe7+ ~a8
wins for Black) 23 ... tiJxg5+ followed
by 24 ... .txf6.
B
22 ... tiJxg5+
The best chance, since 22 ... l:txh2+
23 ~f1 l:th 1 + 24 ~e2 tiJd4+ 25 ~d2
leads to less than nothing; for example,
25 .. Jhal 26 'iWa8+ ~a6 27 'iWxc6+
tiJxc6 28l:hf8 c3+ 29 tiJxc3 bxc3+ 30
~xc3 +- Chess Guru-Kallisto, Computer
Wch (Paris) 1997.
23 ~n 'ii'hl + 24 ~e2 'ii'f3+ 25
~e1 'lfl>a6 (D)
White has a choice of wins here.
26l:tdl!
This is the simple way, and leads to
a winning ending. The continuation
given by Burgess is sharper, and also
effective, viz. 26 'iWc8+ 'lfl>a5 27 tiJxc5