Mr. Burnett asks:

I am building an opening repertoire and have decided on the Slav Noteboom as my main 1.d4 response, but most white players I have come across decline the challenge on move four and play 4.e3. To this I have chosen the 8...Bb7 Meran. Here is my question. After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 b4 the move 10.Na4 has been irking me to no end. You are one of my last resorts in an attempt to sort out this mess. In searches of game databases I can find no clear-cut way to handle this move, and in Peter Wells' COMPLETE SEMI-SLAV he says this move is hardly seen, but when it is Black's course of action is not so clear. He goes on to give some light variations that prove nothing. I've tried dealing with 10.Na4 with 10...c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nxc5 Nxc513.Bb5+ Ke7 but my queenside ends up crumbling. I know there is no move that refutes it, but I was just wondering if you know of a decent solution to this problem.

HOW SHOULD BLACK HANDLE THIS MOVE?

IM JOHN DONALDSON replies:

It's true that 10.Na4 is less common, but it is not unknown. Borrowing a page from an analogous variation (8...Bb7 9.e4 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.e4 Nd5 12.dxc5) Black can choose between taking on c5 with the Knight or Bishop. The position you give after 12.Nxc5 Nxc5 13.Bb5+ Ke7 is fine for Black who will complete development with ...Qb6 and ...Rhd8.

One high-level example of the exact position you were asking about (with 9.0-0) is:

Piket (2605) - Anand (2795) [D47]
Tilburg, 1998
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 b4 10.Na4 c5 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nxc5 Nxc5 13.Bb5+ Ke7 14.Bd2 a5 15.Qe2 Qb6 16.Rfc1 Rhd8 17.Be1 Kf8 18.Nd2 Rab8 19.a3 Bd5 20.axb4 axb4 21.Bc4 Kg8, 1/2-1/2.