Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

76 THE BOTVINNIK SEMI-SIA V
tDxd5 'it'a6!, 20 tDxd5 .txd5 21.txd5
c3! or 20 g4 ':'g6 21 h3 b4 22 tDxd5
.txd5 23 .txd5 c3 and again Black is
better) 20 ... tDa4! 21 'it'c2 'it'a6! 22 tDa3
c3 and Black has a tremendous attack,
Kamsky-Shirov, Lucerne Wcht 1993.
17 ... exd5 18 tDxdS (D)
18 ..• .txdS!?
Black sacrifices a pawn, in return
for which he will get the safer king position
and the more active pieces.
IS ... 'it'd6 keeps the material balance
but allows White to generate unpleasant
pressure:
a) 19 tDc7 'it'xd2+ 20 ':'xd2 ncS 21
tDxb5 .txf3 22 .tg2 (22 ':'xd7 .txhl
23 tDd6 ltc6 24 tDf5 ~eS 25 ltxa7
J:bh2 26 .txc4 ltf6 and Black can defend)
22 ... .txg2 23 ltxg2 tDe5 1/2- 1 /2
Salov-Bareev, Madrid 1994.
b) 19 'it' g5 ! (D) is more dangerous;
the queen is removed from the d-file
and therefore 20 tDc7 is a threat. Now
we have:
bl) 19 ... tDe5 20 tDc7 'it'f6 21 'it'xf6
J:bf6 22 tDxaS .txf3 23 J::tgl .txdl 24
~xd 1 ltf2 25 .te2 tDd3 26 b3 ±; the
knight rejoins the game from c7, after
which Black will not be able to keep
his queenside intact.
b2) 19 ... J::tg6 20 'it'f5 tDe5 21 tDf4
J::tf6 22 'it'h3! (not, of course, 22 'it'h5?
'it'xd1+! 23 ~xdl .txf3+) 22 ... 'it'xdl+
23 'ittxdl .txf3+ 24 'iPc1 .txhl 25
'it'h4! tDd7 26 .th3 ltd6 27 .txd7
nxd7 2S 'it'hS+ ~e7 29 'it'e5+ 'iPdS 30
h4! ± Bareev-Filippov, Russia 1995.
Black has survived the middle game,
but with White's centralized queen
and strong knight supporting the h­
pawn, Black is in trouble.
b3) 19 ... ltbS!? (a surprising resource;
Black is now threatening
... tDe5 and since White cannot attack
the rook, any discovered knight moves
are not really dangerous as Black can
simply meet them with ... 'it'f6) 20 tDf4
(20 f4 I?) 20 ... 'it'f6 21 'it'xf6 tDxf6 22
.tg2 tDeS!? with a roughly equal position,
Savchenko-Filippov, Minsk 1996.
In fact, White must be careful to keep
the balance since Black is planning
... tDg7-f5-d4 with a good position.