Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

56 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SLAV
w
22 'ii'd5 bxc3 23 l:dl 'ii'a4 is too optimistic,
while 22 ~e4 'ii'c6 23 'ii'c2
l:txh2 24 ~gl l:th5 25 l:dl (25 'ii'xc4
tiJxf6 26 l:tdl + ~e7 27 l:tel l:te5 28 f3
tiJxe4 29 l:xe4 l:xe4 30 fxe4 and the
resulting queen ending should be a
draw) 25 ... l:td5 gives Black excellent
chances.
20 exd8'ii+ ~xd8 21 ~xh6
One of White's best attackers in such
positions is the dark-squared bishop,
which can be terribly annoying after a
possible ~f4. Here, however, White
has little choice but to exchange it.
21 .•. l:txb6
For the reasons stressed above,
Black should avoid 21...bxc3, due to
22 ~f4! (22 ~g7 l::txh2 23 ~gl c2 24
'ii'xc2 l:h5 25 'ii'e4 also looks good for
White) and now Black has the miserable
choice between:
a) 22 ... 'ii'c6 23 ~gl.
b) 22 ... l:xh2 23 ~gl l:th8 24 bxc3
+-.
c) The best attempt is probably
22 ... cxb2 23 'ii'f3! c3+ 24 ~gl l:te8
but all Black's pawns drop off after
25 'ii'a8+ 'ii'c8 26 'ii'xa7 followed by
'ii'a5+ and 'ii'xc3.
22 ~d5!? (D)
This is very similar to note 'c1' to
Black's 19th move above, with only a
few differences. Most notably, Black's
queen is on a6, and it makes sense to
try to utilize this.
B
22 ... c3+
This is the only move I have been
able to make work. Here is a brief
summary of what I looked at:
a) 22 ... l:xh2 23 ~gl l:th8 24 'ii'f3
is similar to Kramnik-Shirov and it
does not seem to make much difference
that the queen is on a6 rather than
d6.
b) 22 ... 'ii'xa2 is risky, but has to be
taken into account. However, White
has the very simple 23 l:tal 'ii'b3 24
'ii'xb3 cxb3 25 l:xa7 tiJxf6 26 l:ta6
tiJg4 27 l:txh6 tiJxh6 28 tiJe3, when
the knight ending favours White. Perhaps
there is even something stronger.
c) 22 ... ~c8!? (D) is an attempt to
free the knight. Now White can try: