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The arrival of Play the Slav at my door was a bright spot to my day. I had wanted to play the Slav as a young player, but was dissuaded by my friends as they always seemed to be having such wonderful games playing the Benko Gambit and Kings Indian. Playing the Slav required a hand more sophisticated than mine. In addition, the material available was either written in a foreign language or somewhat out of date. So, I passed on it. A couple of decades later, better material appeared on the subject and my feel for the game was more refined. I dabbled with it, but never completely committed to it. At the point that Play the Slav arrived, I was ready for a new direction. No defense to the Queens Gambit has been considered more stable than the Slav. I use the word stable deliberately because the common word, solid, doesn't convey the true nature of the defense. It is true that Black stakes a spot in the center and holds on to it like a mother bird to the nest, but there is more. Should White overreach, or take liberties trying to force matters, the defender has plenty of resources to cause the advantage to switch sides of the board. Contemporary players of the Black pieces have adopted an approach of using the pawn breaks on e5, c5 or b5 as small levers to develop activity that creates winning opportunities without waiting for an error from the opponent. Being able to play the defense for a win has made it much more palatable to players of many strengths and styles. James Vigus has brought much of that freshness of thought to Play the Slav. There is an introduction and then eleven chapters total. Without exception each chapter develops a brand of play to allow the Black player to carry some of the play. The first six chapters are devoted to 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4, which has been the touchstone of the Slav for decades. The very first chapter looks at 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 which is the sharpest White attempt in this branch of the Slav. Right from the start we see a change in approach, with Vigus adopting the "Sokolov Defence", 5...Nbd7 6.Nxc4 Nb6. A sideline previously, this variation offers Black plenty of chances in the simple Slav style. The line 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Nb6 8. e3 e6 9.Ne5!? Nbd7, which seems to be a sort of retrograde work, illustrates the likely chances that can arise as 10.g4 Be4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Bg2 is met with 12...Qa5+ 13.Kf1 Nxe5 14.Bxe4 0-0-0. As pointed out in a note, Black has a development advantage and the White King is out of place. Another chapter that works well for Black is chapter seven, "The Errot" 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bg4!? The name Errot is explained by Vigus as a Torre reversed, with the lines given being quite healthy for Black. A bit of a personal surprise was the material on 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4, the "Argentinean Defence" which I thought suspect, but I must say the book altered my opinion on it. I enjoyed the work in every chapter a great deal. I have not commented on the Introduction until now for the simple reason that it works to set some standards or guidelines for the reader to appreciate aspects of the defense; it is not as vibrant as the actual analytical work. This is the second book from James Vigus that I have read. I am looking forward to more. He brings an amateur's enthusiasm to the analysis and includes ideas that make his books more than merely repertoire books. This book worked
effectively to get me to appreciate the Slav and to want to play it.
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