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Last update: Friday June 3, 2005 9:44
by Steffen Pedersen
Gambit, 224 pages, £14.99
The Meran Semi-Slav (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 dxc4)
is one of the sharpest and most complex of openings and remains popular at all
levels. Whilst Sadler's Easy Guide to the Semi-Slav was excellent at
explaining the ideas, due to the nature of the book the Meran section was far
less theoretically detailed than in Wells' 1994 effort. On top of this there
have been many recent developments, and so a new work was sorely needed. Pedersen
has met this need, in a companion volume to his The Botvinnik Semi-Slav.
He also devotes about 40% of this work to deal with the also very popular Anti-Meran
with 6 Qc2.
Some lines are very sharp, featuring much theory and long forcing lines. Even here, and especially in the more positional lines, an understanding of the key elements is essential and these will quickly become apparent to readers. Pedersen often highlights and gives examples of these at the beginning of a chapter, as well as providing a quick theoretical summary, which will help readers to locate quickly the best and most popular lines in the following theory section. It is especially good for the club player that both the fashionable and also the older lines are fully covered, with Pedersen including much of his own excellent analysis. He also covers lines such as 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Bd3 Bd6 or 5 g3/5 Qb3, which are reasonably popular, especially at club level, and yet are often poorly documented elsewhere.
For or all who play this opening with either colour, this work is essential, as it brings coverage up to date and includes many important analyses, whilst for those looking for a exciting and complex new line then look no further than this book.
Reviewed by Richard Palliser