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Chessville
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I started to play serious chess in 1972 and since then I have seen the ebbs and flows of chess fashion, how an opening or specific variation comes into vogue for a few years and then is surpassed by some other line. The Meran Semi-Slav is an excellent example of this. It had received a push around 1969-70 when Larsen used it in the Candidates, fell by the wayside with the rise of the Benko and Benoni, and then returned to prominence in the late 1970's when Polugaevsky adopted it. Of course it has been shelved and revived a couple times since then and is currently in the top tier of queen-pawn defenses, having been in the arsenals of elite players like Kramnik, Anand and Topalov. With all of the attention the defense has received and its appeal to uncompromising players it was quite a pleasure to have Gambit come forth with a book on this opening. The format of the book is eight chapters with 25 well annotated games in the first seven chapters. The final chapter is simply an explanation of some move order problems. The first three chapters deal with the real Meran: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3
...which was the real meat of the defense when I played it regularly. I was a bit confused that the first chapter looked at the "old" line with 8...a6 then chapter two took up the "modern" 8...Bb7 and finally in chapter 3 we returned to the 8...a6 line to look at the critical Reynolds attack. This seems a bit uncoordinated to me as I had always known that there is more than a philosophical difference between 8...a6 and 8...Bb7 and that difference deserves more clarification. The material in these chapters though do a fair job of initiating the reader to the types of positions and motifs that make this defense so intriguing. There is one chapter on alternate bishop retreats at move eight (8.Bb3 and Be2) which aren't as critical, though still containing some problems. The fifth chapter deals with the hyper-sharp ultra-modern Shirov-Shabalov attack (6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4!?) and takes three games to draw up the basic ideas of this line. This was the most interesting chapter for me because this was "all new" stuff. I was certainly aware of the fashion in this line and had a few of the ideas worked out, but the amount of theory on this line had passed me by completely. My feeling is that I will find this chapter the most valuable should I decide to push the Meran out in a game in the near future. 6.Qc2 is dubbed the "positional anti Meran" by the author and is second in necessary updates to theory, behind the gambit in the previous chapter. This line had been a favorite of a number of my opponents in the early 1980's, and it took me a number of years to realize that they were simply playing the line like a reversed Colle system! It makes sense, a player of the white pieces can play a "position" instead of having to know reams of Meran theory. Well, that all has changed as this line has become the cutting edge of theory thanks in no small part to Karpov. The last analytical chapter is devoted to a line in the Semi-Slav that has resided in somebody's closet for decades 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 a6!? I believe my first exposure to this was in a note from a game in 1946! It goes along with the current popularity of a6 in the Slav defense generally. Vera is a GM from Cuba who has been a trainer for more than two decades, if the back cover is to be believed. I didn't know anything about him other than his name in some cross-tables, so I checked one of the databases. I found that he has been a very active participant in the debates on the Meran since the early 1980's, having played it from both sides. To me this is a strong point in favor of the book. First, I have to say that I got left behind in Meran theory about two waves back, basically after 1985 I didn't play or study it. So, while I wasn't completely a novice to the Meran, I still had a lot of catching up to do. I felt this book did a good job of presenting to me a good outline of the currently critical lines of the Meran defense, but didn't go outside of that. The "limits" that the book has imposed prevent it from being a repertoire book, a specific set of lines is not put forth for either side, and it isn't a compendium of analysis of the Meran either, as many lines are presented with limited coverage or neglected entirely.
This book has the aim of
delivering the material necessary to start playing the Meran to the player
who is new to the defense or offering an experienced GM's appraisal of
updated variations to a regular Meran player.
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