Smyslov_Fan wrote on 06/12/08 at 04:18:18:


@ Smyslov Fan;

Victor Bologan covers 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 a6 as well as 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bf4 Nc6 after which he deems 7.Rc1 White's most promising move, suggesting Black continue by playing his Knight to e4 followed by 8e3 Nxc3 9bxc3 and then 9...Bf5 rather than ..Bg4 in this particular line. He doesn't seem to like the 'main line' 9...Bg4 here. Oddly, in his chapter summary he says he doesn't like 7...Bg4 (after 7.e3, if I'm following correctly but the context of the comment is throwing me) as it is in some difficulty of late, but the accompanying notes don't seem to bear that out, indicating instead a dislike of ...Bg4 in the line after Rc1, as mentioned above.
He seems to think Black is fine with 7...Bg4 in the first move order, incidentally; 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 a6 7.Rc1 Bg4 where White hasn't stuck Nf3 on the board yet.
Alternatively, I could have misread/misunderstood this passage....?!  When time allows I'll look at this with a board to hand and check that this summary is as per the actual book content, although I think I've given you the basic idea of what he's saying.  He is obviously very up to date (quoting a 2007 Sakaev game in the last of the lines I mention above) and surely one of the world's leading authorities on all things Slav, so if there's anything wrong with the above it'll likely be in the way I've set it out, naturally!  At this point in time I don't know the nuances of the Exchange Slav any more than I know how to fly in the air unaided, but then that's what I keep buying these books for, to start learning.....I do, however, know that you have a vast depth of Slav experience and will be able to translate what I've said into something meaningful.  

Well, apart from a brief review at BCM's site, I have just found this;

http://www.chessvibes.com/books/review-the-chebanenko-slav-according-to-bologan/