Semi-Slav Defense: Botvinnik Variation
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4
What Is The Botvinnik Variation?
6.e4 refuses to recapture on c4 and builds the biggest centre in the Queen's Gambit. Black keeps the pawn with 6...b5, and after 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 White gives a knight for two pawns and a raging initiative. Black emerges a piece up with a wrecked kingside, so every game becomes a race between White's central pawns and Black's material.
After 9...hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 the f6 knight is pinned and doomed, White's e5 and d4 pawns cramp everything, and Black answers with the queenside mass: c5, Bb7 and a timely b4 to drive the c3 knight from the defence. Do not treat the extra piece as safety. Precision decides here: memorised lines run twenty moves deep, and one inaccuracy loses on the spot for either side.
The Named Lines Of The Botvinnik Variation
| Line | Moves |
|---|---|
| Alatortsev System | 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 Nd5 |
| Ekstrom Variation | 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.exf6 gxh4 10.Ne5 |
| Lilienthal Variation | 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.g3 |
| Szabo Variation | 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.Qf3 |