Side note on the Exchange Slav ... it's advocated in a recent Modern Chess product. Upon 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 it has 8. Bb5 as the main recommendation, plus "8. ♘e5!? Interesting fresh line that we are going to offer you as an alternative". 

I have to wonder what is fresh about it. I was reminded of Raymond Keene recommending it in a book from 1984. He cited Gaprindashvili-Mokry, Reggio Emilia 1982-3: 8...Nd7 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Be2 Be7 11.O-O O-O 12.Rc1 c5 13.Nb5 a6 14.Nd6 Bg6 15.dxc5 Nxc5 16.Rxc5 Bxd6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Qd4 Rfd8 19.Rd1 a5 20.Qc3 Rdb8 21.b3 Qb6 22.Bb5 f6 23.Rc1. "Black's moves have been exceedingly natural, but White still has a dominating position."

Later 8...Nxe5 9. Bxe5 Nd7 became a main line. I noticed that Ulf Andersson was on the white side five times between 1988 and 2004, resulting in five draws.

tony37 wrote on 03/31/14 at 19:24:36:


I honestly don't know what that "main line" is, but Black doesn't need to play ...Nf6-e4 and it's far from the most popular choice in this variation.

It's all more unclear (to me) than the books suggest.

kylemeister wrote on 03/31/14 at 17:50:06:


True, but does White actually have anything better?  Maybe I'll take a closer look at 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bg5.  My general impression was that this is not nearly as bad for Black as some books would have you believe, though of course White is White.

Quote:


I think the usual counter-argument runs 4...g6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4, which is played about 10 times as often as 6.Bg5, though it's not clear to me that it's a better move.  

When I looked at this position again recently from the White point of view, I didn't really understand why he should take on d5, and concluded that after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 g6 I'd play the immediate 5.Bf4 Bg7 6.e3.   5...dxc4 doesn't seem to be a problem, so I don't see the reason for exchanging on d5, personally.  On the other hand, I'm not convinced that White has as large an advantage as the books would have you believe.  They mostly say "if Black wants to play this way he should just play the Grunfeld," or "in the Grunfeld, Black wants to play ...c5, so having played ...c7-c6 Black is passive," without much analysis.

@ Pantu, Thanks for the heads-up. exactly what I need. Much appreciated. Transpositions is one of my weakness. Hence did not think of Delchev's Reti book.
@Nestor, Thanks for the sources. I googled schlechter slav and Sakaev's Complete Slav turned up, But i don't have the book. Good to know but probably won't need it at my level at the moment.
Re Donaldson & Silman, thanks. I think I have a second hand copy somewhere. Did not even think of it. Will check. {No, I have the semi-slav book which I liked for its Noteboom-based repertoire.}

When I did my google search, it turn up all these opening explorer websites but interestingly D15 Schlechter Slav has 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3Nf3/Nc3 Nf6 4 Nc3/Nf3 g6. In one of the previous thread, Smyslov_Fan mentioned that Black only plays g6 when White has played e3 when the dark-sq bishop has not gotten out. Hence, I surmise Kamsky playing 4…a6 as waiting move? If 5 e3, then 5…g6. I suppose playing …g6 without an e3 is not good at all.
I am a sucker for fianchettoes and this will add another to my list.

I've played this a bit (Burmakin is another player to watch) as a general d5/c6/g6/Bg7 setup, with some excellent results.

Some notes:

- 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 g6 is quite similar
- 1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 g6 is also possible to make a complete repertoire with a Fianchetto Grunfeld.
- 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 g6 gives white some extra options from the normal Schlecter move order.  6.Bd3 Bg7 7.0.0 0.0 8.Qc2 with 8...Bg4 9.Ne5 is suggested by Delchev in his Reti book.  With 4.e3 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 the main line is 7...Bg4 which Avrukh mentions in passing as equal (6.Be2 is met with 7...a6)
- 6.Bd3 seems most popular in the Schlecter move order
- after 4.Nc3 a6 5.a4 g6 setups are no good (5...e6 is my recommendation). 4.Qb3 also sidesteps ...g6 (4...dxc4!)

I think you will need to do some research with a database, at least that is what I did.  I also need to stress that you will be slightly worse out the opening no matter what, but the benefit is that you don't really need to think too deeply and white usually doesn't have an obvious plan.

Bologan's Chebanenko book will help a bit but otherwise it is only white repertoire books covering it (Delchev's 1.Nf3 book, Schandorff's 1.d4 repertoire, Avrukh).

Several recent 1.d4 repertoire books feature the 4.e3 Slav and they might be your best bet for this Chebanenko/Schlechter hybrid, even if they show lines from White's point of view. Avrukh in GM Rep 1 takes this line quite seriously. Grunfeld books are more likely to recommend lines where Black plays ...c5 instead of ...c6, so you might not find much there.

Dear All,

I have decided to resurrect this old thread instead of creating a new one. For some time, I have been intrigued by the Schlechter Slav especially the hybrid played by Gata Kamsky with an a6 and a g6. 


1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 g6 and here in Gelfand, Boris (2733) - Kamsky, Gata (2705) / Wch Candidates final (2.4), Elista 2007 (0.5-0.5), Gelfand went 6 Be2 while in Wang, Hao (2737) - Kamsky, Gata (2762) / SportAccord Blitz Men 2012 (11.5), Beijing CHN 2012 (1-0), Wang Hao went 6 Bd3.

Just wondering whether anyone knows of any resource/material on this? I have searched the Pub Forum and came across a few old threads (including this one) and the following:
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1205670954/0
http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1220942371/0
Most recently this post from TN inspired my question:
TN wrote on 03/28/14 at 11:35:01:


1) I know of Avrukh 1 d4 vol 1 Ch 14.
2) I guess Sadler's old Slav book has a bit on this from p 136ff: Quote:

3) Glenn Flear's SO: Slav and Semi-Slav Ch 7 which also has a section on combining a6 with g6.
4) Had a look at Bologan's Chebanenko Slav and he does not analyse combining a6 and g6 (which may be saying something)
5) Graham Burgess's Slav does not mention a6 and g6 possibility.
6) Yuri Markov and Boris Schipkov's Winning With The Slav has a section p54ff.

So, any other resources/materials?

If looking at Grunfeld materials, what is the usual variation? 1d4 Nf6 2c4 g6 3Nc3 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5?

Thanks in advance.