February 2001
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This month we are going to have an in-depth look at the Exchange Variation- once again by special request in the January poll! Ruslan Scherbakov
Young Russians are taught never to fear their opponents! My daughter Katjusha at the circus! |
Introduction to the Exchange Slav
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5
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The Exchange Slav is a very quiet system. White releases the tension in the centre so as to nip Black's possible counterplay on the queenside connected with ...d5xc4 in the bud. However it reduces his active possibilities and makes Black's defensive task easier - an extra tempo does not seem to be enough for a serious attempt at fighting for the advantage. Yet, Black should be aware not only of the way to obtain an acceptable position, but also be ready to defend for a long time, often without any chances of outplaying his opponent - for those players who are seeking a complicated battle, it might not be a suitable choice of opening.
Black should try to keep the symmetry for a few more moves - the position after 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6
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is known to be fine for him.
Trying to unbalance the position gives more chances of outplaying the opponent. Black can break the symmetry, leaving the Bishop on c8 with 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6. After 7. e3
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he can choose between the solid but somewhat passive set-up: 7. ..Be7 followed by ...0-0, Bd7, Qa5, Rfc8 and Qd8, and the slightly unexpected 7. ..Nh5 which leads to more complicated play. In the latter variation Black might be worried about 8. Bg5 Qb6 9. Bb5 so he can postpone the Knight manoeuvre for a move or two by developing his Kingside first. In this case White can secure the Bishop's retreat by playing h2-h3. Such transpositions are possible in many lines of the Exchange Slav so it is very important to be aware of them.
In his turn, White can try to reach a more favourable situation as well as avoiding some of the variations mentioned above, with an early Bishop sortie to f4. Black can simply play the rather passive ...e7-e6 set-up without ...Nf6-h5 (there is no Knight on f3 so the Queen still controls h5) but he can also try the sharp and rather risky ...Qb6, immediately attacking the pawn on b2 or other possibilities like ...a7-a6 intending to pin the Knight on f3 with ...Bg4.
Of course, it is impossible to describe all the subtleties and tricky move orders of this opening in just a few words - my purpose was to show that the Exchange Slav is not as simple (boring!) an opening as it might look.
If you like slow positional play and do not want to engage in theoretical battles in the various sharp and well-developed Slav systems - the Exchange Slav is for you! If you play the Slav with Black... well, you cannot play the Botvinnik or Noteboom every time because White may have different plans. Don't forget: you have reasonable chances to outplay your opponent in any opening which you know better... but a draw is not such a bad result with the Black pieces.
Good luck!
Games and theory
As coach of the GM Panchenko Chess School, Alexander Filipenko shared a lot of interesting opening ideas with his pupils. In particular, he taught us to counter the Exchange Slav with ...e7-e6 followed by ...Nf6-h5, attempting to unbalance the position and thereby gain chances to outplay the opponent. I used this set-up many times with great success, but the game RS326 was special - I was facing the legendary David Bronstein... Even in a boring position he was playing like a magician, and I am proud to say he did this with my help! Hope you enjoy this very exciting battle...
This game between two leading experts in this opening shows the dangers with which Black is faced after ...Nh5 - one inaccurate move may lead to trouble, RS327.
There are a lot of possible transpositions which could arise, and both sides should know all the subtleties thoroughly. In RS328, Black tries to avoid any risk by postponing the manoeuvre ...Nh5. However White surprises him by taking direct action on the Kingside - it looks interesting but Black proves that his defensive resources are sufficient. The struggle was fairly exciting, I hope you enjoy it!
An interesting idea is considered in RS329 - Black can met 3. Nc3 with 3. ..e5!?. In this game he almost solved his problems but missed some strong and fairly unexpected manoeuvres in a sharp ending.
White often develops his Bishop to f4 before his Knight to f3 in order to avoid ideas such as ...Nf6-h5, ...a7-a6 and ...Bc8-g4 or the simplifying ...Bf8-d6. On the other hand, the early Bishop sortie leaves the pawn on b2 without protection and Black can try to utilise this fact with a sharp and risky counter attack ...Qd8-b6. RS330 was a key theoretical battle - I was sure Black would be fine following analysis by Alexander Filipenko, while my experienced opponent was sure that White would obtain a strong initiative by sacrificing the pawn on b2 and completing the development of his Kingside as he did twenty years ago against Mark Dvoretsky. The course of the game showed that the maestro was right but in order to prove it he was forced to find a very strong novelty over the board.
In RS331 we see a solid idea to counter the early Bf4. Black equalises quickly and confidently although later he faces slight problems as a result of his ambitious play.
RS332 an early ...a7-a6 intending to continue with ...Bg4 is another way to counter the Exchange Slav. However White can postpone the move e2-e3 to avoid the pin. Both players have to be familiar with possible transpositions, but White shouldn't relax too much when playing these positions with an extra tempo - in this game he was surprised to face real problems as early as move 14!
In RS333 Queenside castling looked like the prelude to a complicated battle, but Black managed to simplify the position and did not allow White to take the initiative.
An interesting idea of some Latvian players in a complex line was tested in RS334. Dmitry Komarov naively repeated a whole variation which was suggested by Alexander Shabalov as leading to an equal endgame. However at the end of the line he was very surprised to find that the only way to save a piece was by sacrificing two pawns. Shabalov's compatriot, young Alexey Shirov then showed excellent endgame technique...