The Slav defense has always been a popular opening for Black, dating back to the Alekhine-Bogoljubow and Alekhine-Euwe matches.  However, over the last several years the Semi-Slav has replaced it as the opening of choice amongst the world’s top players.

I myself have been playing various variations of the Slav for the past 19 years.  Originally, like a lot of beginners, I started with the mainline Slav.  However, for some reason the exchange variation would sometimes give me trouble.  After trying the a6 Slav for a brief period, I ended up playing the Semi-Slav a few years ago and have been very pleased with it.

The interesting thing is you would think that with Black playing pawns to both c6 and e6 and blocking in his light squared bishop, there wouldn’t be that much theory to know.  I mean, isn’t Black sort of playing a Colle in reverse?  The answer is no—the Semi-Slav is nothing like the Colle.

While the Colle is a pretty easy opening to play (I play it), the number of variations in the Semi-Slav is quite large and the lines often run past 20 moves.  Additionally, while the Colle is usually a setup to play for a kingside attack, in the Semi-Slav, Black’s play is usually on the queenside (c5 break) or center (e5 break).

Vigorito’s 277 page book is broken into 5 sections:

Part I  –  The Moscow Variation
Part II  –  The Botvinnik Variation
Part III  –  The Meran Variation
Part IV  –  The 6.Qc2 Variation
Part V  –  White Avoids the Main Lines

The Semi-Slav appears on the board after the following moves:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6

The Semi-Slav is on the board!

We can learn a little here by watching two of the best in the business pick up the position from here (game 9 in the book):

Radjabov,Teimour (2728) - Anand,Viswanathan (2779)
Mainz (rapid) 2006

5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5

White to Move

Says Vigorito:

This is the starting position for the Anti-Moscow Gambit.  In exchange for the sacrificed pawn White has good central control and the possibility of breaking either in the centre with e4-e5 or d4-d5 or on either flank with h2-h4 or a2-a4.  Black has a kind of Botvinnik position, except he is up a pawn instead of down a pawn.

The game continued:

9.Be2 Bb7 10.0–0 Nbd7 11.Ne5 Bg7 12.Nxd7 Nxd7 13.Bd6 a6 14.Bh5 Bf8 15.Bxf8 Rxf8 16.e5 Qb6 17.Ne4 0–0–0 18.Nd6+ Kb8 19.Nxf7 Rxf7 20.Bxf7 Nxe5 21.Qh5 Rxd4 22.Bxe6 c5 23.Qxh6 Ka7 24.Rae1 Nd3 25.Re3 Rd6 26.h4 Nf4 27.hxg5 Nxe6 28.f3 b4 29.Kh2 Qc7 30.Kg1 Nf4 31.Qf8 Rd2 32.Re7 Qd6 33.Qf7

Black to Move and Win

And here, as the English say, Anand “puts the boot in!”

33...Ne2+ 34.Kh1 Ng3+ 35.Kg1 Qd4+ 36.Kh2 Qh4+ 0–1

Nice finish Vishy!
 

The Bottom Line

This is a well written book filled with deep analysis.  You can just look at it and feel the many hours Vigorito poured into getting it “just right.”  Of course, the very thing that makes the book so strong also means that lower-rateds are going to struggle with the rich and numerous variations.  Therefore, I would say that those 1800 and up will get the most out of this book.

On a scale of 1-10, Play the Semi-Slav by David Vigorito gets a 9.
 

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