The Slav : Concise coverage of a dependable and dynamic opening favoured by many top-class players

by Graham Burgess

The Slav has been played by 11 of the first 13 World Champions, and has been favored by many stars of modern chess, including Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Ivanchuk, and Morozevich. Its great popularity is due to its extreme solidity and abundant possibilities for dynamic counterplay. This book provides detailed coverage to help players as both White and Black face the challenges of this tough yet rewarding opening. All lines after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 are discussed, except those that transpose to the Semi-Slav. The sharpest tactical lines of the Slav receive especially detailed coverage. These include the critical piece sacrifice in the main line (5...Bf5 6 Ne5 e6 7 f3 Bb4 8 e4 Bxe4), the Steiner line (5...Bg4) with 6 Ne5 Bh5 7 h3, and the possibly dubious, but highly dangerous Geller Gambit (5 e4), which was a favorite of the young Kasparov. The trendy ...a6 lines are also covered systematically for the first time in chess literature.

Genres: Chess

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Graham K. Burgess (1968) is an English FIDE Master of chess and a noted writer and trainer. He became a FIDE Master at the age of twenty. He attended Birkdale High School in Southport, Merseyside. In 1989 he graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in mathematics. In 1994 he set a world record by playing 510 games of blitz chess (five minutes for each player) in three days, winning 431 games and drawing 25,

Burgess has written more than twenty books and edited more than 250. His book The Mammoth Book of Chess won the British Chess Federation Book of the Year Award in 1997. He is the editorial director of Gambit Publications.