Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)
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IDEAS WITH .. .'ila5 79<br />
after 12 ... b4 13ltJe4 .ia6 14 'it'f3 'iWd5<br />
or 12 ....ia6 13 'fif3 b4 14ltJe4 'fid5).<br />
It is more often seen with the moves<br />
.ie2 and ... 0-0-0 inserted but it does<br />
not change much.<br />
<strong>The</strong> obvious home for White's lightsquared<br />
bishop is on g2, but White<br />
must be careful he does not place it<br />
there until Black has retreated his<br />
bishop to b7. Otherwise White will<br />
end up having his king stuck in the<br />
centre with no real possibility of getting<br />
castled. Hence, White usually has<br />
to put his bishop on e2, which may<br />
seem like the second-best option but<br />
has the additional advantage that it attacks<br />
the c4-pawn. Black's plan is<br />
clear: he would like to play ....ib7 and<br />
... c5, which may give White some<br />
problems on the a8-hl diagonal, and,<br />
he will attempt to castle queenside.<br />
White should react by retreating his<br />
dark-squared bishop to e3, from<br />
where it protects the d4-pawn but also<br />
makes room for the counter-attacking<br />
ltJg5.<br />
All in all, there seem to be some<br />
clear-cut plans for both sides. White is<br />
a pawn up and has the sounder position,<br />
so if he can avoid immediate catastrophe<br />
he will usually come out<br />
better. As usual, however, Black's<br />
dynamic play must not be underestimated.<br />
<strong>The</strong> following diagram provides<br />
an example.<br />
From the previous diagram, the<br />
game has taken the following logical<br />
course: 15 .ie3 0-0-016 .ie2 c5. Now<br />
White played ...<br />
W<br />
S. Bekker-Jensen - N. <strong>Pedersen</strong><br />
Copenhagen 1996<br />
17ltJg5<br />
Another idea is 17 ltJxc5 .ixc5 18<br />
dxc5.ib7 19 'fixd5, when 19 ... .ixd5<br />
is met by 20 f3!, although Black might<br />
do better with 19 ... exd5!?<br />
17 ... .ib7 18 O-O?!<br />
18 'it' xd5! .ixd5 19 ltJxf7 is good<br />
for White.<br />
18 ... 1i'xg5! 19 1i'xb7+ 'iPxb7 20<br />
.ixg5 cxd4 21 .ixc4 ltJe5 22 i.e2 d3<br />
23 .idl .ic5<br />
All Black's pieces are very active<br />
and with the bishop having to stay on<br />
dl White has difficulties coordinating.<br />
In particular the b2-pawn is difficult to<br />
defend.<br />
24 .if4 .id4 25 %:tel<br />
25 .ixe5 .ixe5 26 %:tbl is possibly<br />
better but White's worries are not over<br />
yet despite the presence of oppositecoloured<br />
bishops. With rooks on the<br />
board Black can still create problems<br />
for White.<br />
25 ... ltJc4 26 .if3+ 'ifi'b6 27 l:abl e5
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