Play the Semi Slav

PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV
Author: David Vigorito
Quality Chess (2007)
277 pages
$29.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

Some people worry about global warming or who will be the next President of the US. I'm sure that IM David Vigorito ponders these worldly problems as well, but he also has a special concern. What is the optimal move order for Black in the Semi-Slav? This might seem to be a simple question but anyone who has talked with David for a few minutes quickly learns it's not.

Say you want to play the black side of the Botvinnik or Moscow variations of the Semi-Slav. You could reach the key position via 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c6 5.Bg5, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 -- that is five different ways to reach the same position each of which offers White different options or, if you prefer to look at it another way, different ways for Black to choose his poison.

Should he allow the Exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6), the Marshall Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e4), the Catalan (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3), the Exchange Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5) or a tricky Anti-Meran setup like (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 and now either 5.Bd3 or 5.Nbd2)? How will Black's first few moves affect things if White ditches 2.c4 for a Colle, Torre or other non-Queen's Gambit system? Not to worry, Vigorito has it figured out.

The answer is that 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 is the optimal move order. Black will meet 4.Nc3 with 4...c6 and 4.e3 with 4...Bf5. Of course the big question is what to do after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5. Black has tried all sorts of things to unbalance play in the Exchange Slav from systems with ...a6 (Chebanenko), an early ...Ne4 (Kramnik and Sokolov) or ...e6 and ...Nh5 (Botvinnik and Dreev). Vigorito says keep it simple and go for 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bf4 Bf5. Sure after 7.e3 e6 8.Bd3 White can trade pieces, but after 8...Bxd3 9.Qxd3 Be7 Black breaks the symmetry. Is this the most exciting position in the history of chess? No! But there are a lot of pieces on the board to work with. Will Black be able to generate wining attempts if White plays well -- not likely. However ask yourself, how often will you play someone who plays well who only wants to draw you at all costs. Several games by Cuban GM Dominguez against 2500 opposition show that Black can win such positions with the right attitude, which is calm and determined play.

The benefit for Black by adopting this move order, as Vigorito carefully explains, is that Black avoids all the other move order issues -- there is no Exchange QGD (except the anemic one where White has played a premature Nf3 allowing ...Bf5), no Catalan, no Marshall Gambit and 4.e3 (after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6) can be "punished" by ...Bf5 -- Black gets rid of his problem child. As a bonus Black can meet 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 with 2...Nf6 instead of 2...e6 or 2...c6 because all the transpositions work. This means ...c5 and ...Bf5/...Bg4 are options against non-QGD systems like the Colle and Torre.

PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV is more than just a move order manifesto. It is a complete repertoire for Black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4. Vigorito typically offers two systems against each White try -- one a bit sharper or more theoretical than the other. Against White’s two main systems, 5.Bg5 and 5.e3, this means the Botvinnik and Moscow for the former and Meran lines with 8...Bb7 9.0-0 a6 and 9...b4 -- against 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.0-0 cxd4 12.Re1 g6 and 12...h6) for the latter. Everything is covered after 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 from the very popular 7.g4 to the older 7.Bd2. Vigorito presents the key lines and suggests improvements. He gives lots of analysis but there is also a lot of prose to guide the reader with useful tidbits here and there. For example, in the line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg6 7.Nxg6 hxg6 he explains why Topalov was experimenting with moves like 8.a3 and 8.Rb1 -- the Bulgarian holds the idea of ...Bb4 and capturing on c3 in high esteem. Trading the dark-squared Bishop when all of one’s pawns are on White is not old school chess but in this position it is effective.

Vigorito is up to date. For example, in the topical line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 cxd4 11.e5 Nd5 12.0-0 cxd4 13.Re1 g6 14.Bg5 Qa5 15.Nd2 he advocates 15...Rc8 to avoid the dangerous piece sacrifice line 15...Ba6 16.Nc4 Bxc4 17.Bxc4 Bg7 18.Qxd4 which is extensively analyzed in another Quality Chess title, TRUE LIES IN CHESS by GM Comas Fabrego. One small correction is that 15...Rc8 is attributed to GM Yevseev but Gregory Kaidanov played it against me in Cleveland 16 years ago: 16.Nc4 Rxc4 17.Bxc4 Bg7 18.Bb3 Nxe5 19.Rc1 Nd7 20.Bd2 0-0 21.a3 Qb5 (a game with 21...Rb8 is quoted by Vigorito) 22.axb4 Ba8 23.Bc4 draw (Fritz 10 and Rybka say chances are equal), Donaldson-Kaidanov, Cleveland 1992. The game was published in the Kaidanov Report but nowhere else. If I remember correctly, Gregory told me he had first seen GM Chernin play 15...Rc8.

Having just received a review copy of DANGEROUS WEAPONS: THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, I was curious to see how Vigorito's book would hold up against a couple of suggestions by GM Chris Ward. Against the Botvinnik Ward advocates the line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.exf6 gxh4 10.Ne5 Qxf6 11.g3 (no a4 inserted). Both authors follow the game Vitiugov-J.Geller, Cheboksary 2006 for quite awhile: 11...Nd7 12.Qe2 c5 13.Nc6 Bb7 14.Nd5 Bxc6 15.Nxf6+ Nxf6 16.d5 Nxd5 17.Bg2 Bg7 18.a4 0-0 (Vigorito mentions Sherbakov's suggestion of 18...a6 as playable) 19.axb5 Bxb5 20.0-0 a6 21.Qh5 and now PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV veers off with the superior 21...hxg3 22.fxg3 Rad8 23.Rf2 and then the improvement (over Jobava-Cheparinov, Wijk aan Zee 2006) 23...c3 24.bxc3 Bxc3 25.Rb1 Bg7 with good play.

Against the Moscow Ward likes 5...h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.Qb3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 Nd7 9.0-0-0!? Vigorito doesn't examine lines where White castles long preferring 7...a5!? as his main line when 8.e4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bb4+ 10.Kd1 leads to a key position. After 10...Qf4 11.Qe3 Qxe3 12.fxe3 Be7 13.c5 0-0 14.Ne5 Nd7 15.Nc4 Rd8 16.Kc2 e5 17.Ned6 exd4 18.exd4 b6 is quoted on the basis of a game played between Sulava and G. Timoscenko, Arca 1999, considered a little better for White by both authors. Ward suggests instead 18...Nf6!? with the idea of meeting 19.Re1 with 19...Be6 jettisoning the b-pawn for good counterplay. Good objectivity by Ward who was advocating this line for White!

While PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV is written primarily for players who aim to reach the position after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6, it also has a second audience -- regular Slav players who capture on c4 on move four. Since after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 most people play 4...e6 heading for the Meran, well over half this book (Exchange Slav, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 plus Meran systems and odds and ends like 4.Qc2) will be quite useful for them.

I highly recommend PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV for all those with an interest in either side of the Slav/Semi-Slav complex.

Click to buy (or get more information about) PLAY THE SEMI-SLAV

Also by David Vigorito: CHALLENGING THE NIMZO-INDIAN