The exchange Slav is synonymous with boring draws; but if Black wants to fight then the game can still get exciting -- for better or worse.
This week's Tactic comes from an exchange Slav played at the Sunday Rapid at the RA Club in Ottawa. Before the game, Black had said that he was sure he would beat White in anything but a blitz game, and since the Rapid games are 10m/game + 5sec/move, White was frightened into playing the exchange Slav. In this position, White has several pieces pointed at Black's kingside, but Black has started his queenside play with ...Na5. What should White play?
[Event "RACC Sunday Rapid"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.04.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Upper, John"]
[Black "Diver, Patrick"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D13"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "55"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 {There was on odd number of players
entered, so I joined in so no one would get a forced bye. Since I wasn't all
that interested in playing I opted for the Exchange Slav, which is as close to
not playing as I know.} cxd5 5. Nc3 e6 (5... Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Qb3 Bb4
{is better, and pretty close to equal.}) 6. Bf4 Be7 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 a6 9. Rc1
Nc6 10. O-O Bd7 11. Ne5 Rc8 12. Qf3 b5 $6 {See Kramnik-Kamsky below for a
better way to play.} 13. Qh3 {Diagram [#]} Na5 $2 (13... g6 $142 $1 {is the
best. Black is still pasive, but there's no immediate win.}) (13... h6 $2 14.
Bxh6 $1 $18 gxh6 15. Qxh6 {and White can bring another attacker in with f2-f4
and Rf3-g3.} Na5 16. f4 Nc4) (13... b4 $2 14. Nxd5 $18) 14. Nxd5 {Only move.} $18 {
I'd seen this before ...Na5 but thought it didn't work. In fact, it's a combo
that's caught some good players, including Milan Vidmar Sr. in 1934 and an IM
in 2012 (see next games).} (14. Ng4 {is another way to overwork the Nf6, but it gives Black time
to defend with} g6) 14... exd5 15. Nxd7 {The obvious point of the combo is
that Black's N can't take on d5 or d7 without allowing mate on h7.} Qxd7 (15...
Nxd7 $2 16. Qxh7#) 16. Bf5 $2 {This move -- creating a skewer on c8 -- was
what I'd seen when Black played ...Na5, and I played it without thinking...
but it's not nearly the best. Even in a 10 minute game I should have found:} (
16. Bxh7+ $142 {again overloading the N, and setting up deadly discovered
check.} Kh8 17. Bf5+ $18) 16... Rxc1 17. Rxc1 $6 $16 (17. Bxd7 Rxf1+ 18. Kxf1 {
is winning, but the game line looked like more fun, and once I started
enjoying the game I started playing worse.}) 17... Qb7 $1 (17... Qd8 18. Bc7 {
picks up the Na5 since there's no pin down the c-file.}) (17... Qe8 18. Rc8 Bd8
{was what I'd expected when taking on c1; now White wins with} 19. Be5 $1 $18 {
or Bg5, resuming the attack on the N and on h7.} (19. Bd6 $2 Nc4 $14)) 18. Rc7
Qb6 19. Rxe7 Nc4 20. b3 Qa5 21. g4 {Only move.} $18 (21. g3 $2 Nd2 {Only move.} 22. Be5 Qxa2 23.
Kg2 {Only move.} Qa1 {Black is the frist one to threaten mate!} 24. Bd3 {Only move.} Qd1 25. Bxf6
Qf3+ 26. Kg1 Qd1+ $11) 21... Qe1+ (21... Nd2 {is too slow, since there will be
only one N to jump to e4:} 22. g5 Qxa2 23. gxf6 Qa1+ 24. Kg2 Qf1+ 25. Kg3 $18)
22. Qf1 {Only move.} Qxf1+ 23. Kxf1 Nd2+ 24. Ke2 Nfe4 $2 (24... Nde4 25. f3 Nc3+ 26. Kd2
Nxa2 27. g5 Nh5 28. Bd6 $18 {material is equal, but every one of White's
pieces is better than Black's, and computers rate this +6,}) 25. f3 g6 26. fxe4
gxf5 27. Kxd2 fxe4 28. Rd7 {and White won Black's center pawns before resuming
the attack with h4-h5.} 1-0
[Event "Ujpest"]
[Site "Ujpest"]
[Date "1934.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frydman, Paulino"]
[Black "Vidmar, Milan Sr"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D13"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "1934.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "HUN"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 e6 7. e3 Be7 8. Bd3
O-O 9. O-O a6 10. Rc1 Bd7 11. Ne5 Rc8 12. a3 (12. Qf3 Nxe5 $1 13. dxe5 Ne8 $14)
12... Na5 13. Qf3 b5 14. Qh3 Nc4 $4 (14... g6 $1) 15. Nxd5 $1 $18 g6 16. Nxe7+
Qxe7 17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Rxc4 bxc4 19. Bg5 {There's no good defence to Qh4 and
Ng4, piling up on the pinned Nf6.} 1-0
[Event "Washington op 1st"]
[Site "Rockville"]
[Date "2012.07.28"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Kekelidze, Mikheil"]
[Black "Adu, Oladapo"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2494"]
[BlackElo "2222"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2012.07.28"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2012.08.24"]
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 Nc6 7. Ne5 e6 8. e3
Bd7 9. Bd3 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. Qf3 Rc8 12. Qh3 Na5 $2 {Black is now an IM, but
he doesn't know how dangerous his position is.} (12... g6 13. Bh6 Re8 14. f4 {
is a very good Pillsbury-ish attacking position for White.}) 13. Nxd5 $1 $18 h6
(13... exd5 14. Nxd7 {Only move.} $18) 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Bxh6 $1 Re8 16. Bf4 (16. Bg5 $1
Bxg5 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18. Qh5 $1 $18) 16... Bb5 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18. Bxb5 axb5 19. Qh8+
Ke7 20. Qh5 Rf8 21. Rac1 Nc4 22. b3 Nd6 23. Nd3 Qa5 24. Bxd6+ Kxd6 25. a4 $5
1-0
[Event "Wch Blitz 3rd"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2007.11.22"]
[Round "33"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D13"]
[WhiteElo "2785"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "John Upper"]
[PlyCount "95"]
[EventDate "2007.11.21"]
[EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
[EventRounds "38"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2007.11.25"]
1. d4 {Finally, an example of someone who knows how to defend this as Black.}
d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. Bf4 e6 7. e3 Nc6 8. Bd3 Be7 9.
O-O O-O 10. Rc1 Bd7 11. Ne5 Rc8 12. Qf3 Be8 $5 {Kamsky is one of the few Super
GMs who actually seems to enjoy playing cramped and passive positions. Part of
the reason must be because he knows how to defend. His move ...Be8 adds a
defender to d5 and gets the B off a vulnerable square, as well as adding an
extra defender for the kingside light squares.} 13. Qh3 Kh8 $5 14. Bg5 g6 {Only move.}
15. Bh6 Rg8 16. f4 Nd7 17. Nxc6 Rxc6 $11 18. e4 $6 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Rb6 20. d5 Nf6
$1 21. dxe6 $4 Qd4+ $1 22. Kh1 Nxe4 $19 {In this blitz game, the players
traded blunders before agreeing to a draw on move 48.} 23. Nxe4 Qxe4 24. exf7
Bxf7 25. Rfe1 Qb4 26. a3 Qd6 27. Rcd1 Bd5 28. f5 gxf5 29. Be3 Rxb2 30. Bd4+ Bf6
31. Bxb2 Bxb2 32. Rd2 Be5 33. Qxf5 Re8 34. Red1 Be6 35. Qh5 Qb8 36. Re2 Bc3 37.
h3 Bf7 38. Qxf7 Rxe2 39. Qc4 Re1+ 40. Rxe1 Bxe1 41. Qd4+ Kg8 42. Qg4+ Kh8 43.
Qd4+ Kg8 44. Qg4+ Kf7 45. Qf5+ Kg8 46. Qe6+ Kg7 47. Qxe1 Qd6 48. Qc3+ 1/2-1/2
..
The RA Chess Club welcomes players of all levels at their Sunday rapids (10m + 5s), most Sundays at 1:30 the RA Centre in Ottawa.
