Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
Belying its solid classical appearance, the Semi-Slav is one of Black's most aggressive responses when White opens with the queen's pawn. The Meran is its traditional main line, and often leads to chaotic positions of immense strategic ad tactical richness.
This is territory where the player who is better prepared and has a superior 'feel' for the nuances will typically emerge victorious, even against a stronger opponent. Vera draws upon decades of personal experience to explain the underlying logic of the Meran and related lines, and to pick out the key features of positions that to the untrained eye might appear random and unfathomable. In addition to discussing the main lines after 5.e3, Vera also covers many subtle issues of move-order, which are of great importance when trying to steer the game into the desired channels.
Reinaldo Vera comes from Cuba and has been a grandmaster since 1988. He has won the Cuban Championship on two occasions and was a member of the Cuban national team for more than two decades. Vera graduated from Havana University, and has written for many chess magazines, including New in Chess , Jaque and Peon de Rey . He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer, and the coach of the Cuban team.
About the Meran Semi-Slav
Most world champions, from Steinitz to Kramnik, have used the Semi-Slav, or have had to face it with the white pieces. At present it is one of the most popular defences among the world's elite; it provides both a fertile field for research and a battlefield where exciting contests take place. The Semi-Slav refers to the position reached after the moves 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6, though we must immediately note that this position can arise from quite a variety of move-orders.
In this book we shall be considering the lines following 5 e3. Once more, we should also note that this position can come about via sequences in which White has played e3 on an earlier move (see Chapter 8 for a full discussion). The most important line after 5 e3 is the Meran (5...Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5). Black's basic aim is to develop his pieces harmoniously and energetically, so that they put pressure on White's centre. We shall also be looking in detail at the lines following 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 Bd6, which vary enormously in their character.
In the Queen's Gambit generally, one of the most problematic tasks facing Black is how to bring his light-squared bishop into play. As we shall see when we explore the variations, this almost always takes place on the long diagonal, after ...b5, ...Bb7 and ...c5, although in a few lines (notably those following 6 Qc2) a path for this problematic bishop is cleared by Black advancing his pawn from e6 to e5. The remaining black pieces have natural squares available and there is nothing to prevent their rapid development. Such is the case with the dark-squared bishop, which generally goes to d6 , or the knights, which occupy the squares f6 and d7, from where they support the d5-square and the thematic breaks ...c5 and ...e5. The queen generally waits patiently on d8 until the minor pieces have been developed, in line with general opening principles. Only then does the queen find its ideal post on squares such as b6, c7, or even b8.
From White's viewpoint, ideally he continues his development calmly with the move Bd3, followed by castling, and later he carries out the e4 advance, with the aim of developing the queen's bishop and gaining a space advantage in the centre.
The Semi-Slav shares many strategic ideas and development patterns with the Queen's Gambit Accepted, especially in the standard Meran lines, where Black captures on c4 and subsequently plays ...c5.
It is necessary to distinguish between two main groups of subvariations in the 5 e3 Semi-Slav:
a) White does not hinder Black's basic idea and by playing 6 Bd3 allows the Meran Variation 6...dxc4 7 Bxc4 b5 with all its subvariations (Chapters 1-4). Note that in this book we shall not be discussing Black's 6th-move alternatives, preferring to focus on the more dynamic and popular Meran.
b) White delays the development of his king's bishop and plays 6 Qc2, bringing about the Anti-Meran Systems (Chapters 5 and 6). Again, we shall be looking solely at lines with 6... Bd6, as these are the most combative, with themes from the Meran often coming into play, in addition to ideas unique to the 6 Qc2 lines.
Chapter 7 is devoted to the modern continuation 5...a6, whose most fervent and successful supporter is GM Mikhail Gurevich and which, as will be explained at the appropriate time, is quite different from 5...Nbd7.
Model Games
In spite of all the developments in the use of computers in opening preparation, I remain convinced that it is only by combining the use of databases with the classical method of studying model games that a player can master an opening or a variation with sufficient clarity and depth to employ it successfully in tournament play.
What are model games, and how should they be used?
Model games are those which show us the tactical and strategic methods which are fundamental to a particular opening, for both colours, in such a way that after studying them we have absorbed the experience and ideas of the players. This knowledge should then enable us to solve similar problems ourselves at the board.
I have spent a great part of my life as a player and trainer (over 30 years!) studying and playing the Semi-Slav, with Black or with White, and I have a good grasp of the evolution of the variations and their basic ideas. If I succeed in conveying these ideas to my readers, my efforts will have been justified.
GM Reinaldo Vera
Matanzas, Cuba
June 2007
Content:
004 Symbols
005 Introduction
007 1 Classical Meran with 8...a6
023 2 Modern Meran with 8...Bb7
044 3 The Reynolds Attack
059 4 Capablanca's 8 Be2 and Korchnoi's 8 Bb3
070 5 The Shirov-Shabalov Attack: 7 g4!?
080 6 Positional Anti-Meran Systems
092 7 The 5...a6!? Line
106 8 Notes on Move-Orders
109 List of Games
110 Index of Variations
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