Botvinnik Semi-Slav, The (Pedersen)

MOVE-ORDERS AND VARIOUS DEVIATIONS 87
(Line A221) is more dangerous but
Shirov's discovery 16 ... ttJxc3 17 bxc3
'iWa3 seems to give Black strong counterplay.
16 .tg2 (Line A223) is probably
the most critical and the assessment
largely depends on whether Black has
sufficient counterplay after 16 ... 'iif7
17 .te4 ttJe7 18 ttJxb5 cxb5 19 .txa8.
Black has more possibilities to deviate
after 11 exf6, but most of them
cannot really be recommended. The
line 11.. . .tb7 12 g3 c5 (Line B3) 13
d5 'iib6 14 .tg2 0-0-0 (there is probably
room for some new ideas after
14 ... b4!?) 150-0 b4 16 ttJa4 'iWb5 17
dxe6 seems to have been exhausted.
Savchenko's 21..J:td4! looks at least
equal for Black.
Holding back the ... c5 advance a little
longer is a relatively unusual way
of playing the black side of the
Botvinnik. Following 11.. . .tb7 12 g3
'iib6 13 .tg2 0-0-0 14 0-0, 14 ... .th6
(Line B23) looks very interesting and
right now the onus is on White to find
something after 15 .txh6 .l:txh6 16
ttJe4 c5 17 'iif3 .l:txf6!. On the other
hand, the lines considered under B21
and B22 are relatively unimportant.
The Theory of Various
Deviations
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 ttJf3 ttJf6 4 ttJc3 e6 5
.tg5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 .th4 g5 9
ttJxg5 hxg5 10 .txg5 ttJbd7
Now:
A: 11 g3 87
B: 11 exf6 98
A)
11 g3 (D)
B
We shall now consider two main
options:
AI: 11 ... b4?! 87
A2: 11 ... l:t.g8 88
Or 1l....tb7 12 .tg2 and now:
a) 12 .. :~c7 13 exf6 is Line Bl.
b) 12 ... 'iWb6 13 exf6 transposes to
the Main Lines (Chapter 2-4) or Line
B2, considered later in this chapter.
c) 12 ... .l:tg8 is possible but in general
Black keeps more options open by
delaying the bishop fianchetto when
adopting the ... l:tg8 line.
AI)
11 ... b4?!
This sharp continuation is not entirely
justified. Black will get three
pieces for the queen and this would indeed
be quite OK if he had time to
consolidate without losing too many
pawns on the way.
12 ttJe4 ttJxe4 13 .txd8 'iitxd8 (D)