The Slav
Home
The Slav Defense
10/6/02
Dorian Rogozenko is the author of this opening CD from Chessbase on
the Slav. It sticks to the familiar format that other opening CDs from
Chessbase follow. This means that there is set of text articles on the
opening, a tree, and a database of important games. Coverage of the
opening is pretty detailed, and includes ECO codes D10-D19. While
there is no information provided on the Meran and Botvinnik variation,
coverage of other variations is quite thorough. One topical variation
that is covered in some detail is the so-called Cherbanenko variation
(1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6), which is played quite frequently
by Dreev and Shirov
About 150 of the games on this CD are annotated by Rogozenko, and
these games tend to contain English text explanation of important
positional concepts. The balance of the annotated games (around 1300)
are from a variety of other Chessbase annotators. It looks like many
of these games have been culled from previous issues of Chessbase
magazine and opening CDs. Like many Chessbase offerings, the
annotations are not always in English, with many of them being in
German. Of course, Informant codes are employed also, so most
important concepts are understandable without the text. There are also
22 training games on the CD, with quiz positions taken mostly from the
late opening or early middlegame.
The CD has a fairly conversational style, with well-indexed material.
There are 85 (!) instructional text articles of 1-2 pages each, that
explain the important ideas and history of a particular variation. The
author also provides a set of hot linked tabia, or common middlegame
positions, which facilitate the location of important instructional
articles on the CD. I think this is a good example that other opening
CD authors should follow as well.
I found this CD to be well written, and easy to understand. I think it
would be useful to those that play, or want to play the Slav. I say
this because there is a good mix of detail on existing theory, and
emphasis on new methods of playing this opening as well. However, I
would counsel prospective purchasers that this is not a "Play X
to Win" type of CD. The author tends to present the important
ideas and theoretical material in each game, but leaves decisions
about which variations to play up to the user.
Copy Protection
None
