Well here is a game that features instructive notes by a future world champion in action against a future world correspondence champion.
Notes in italics are algebraicised from Mikhail Botvinnik's 100 Selected Games.
Opening theory has moved on since the book was first published in the Soviet Union in 1949, but Botvinnik's general observations are still pertinent.
Mikhail Botvinnik -Viacheslav Ragozin
Match (Leningrad) 1940
Slav Defence
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3!? Nf6
Since the eighth game of the Keres-Euwe match (1940), 3...dxc4 is rarely played - the variation 4.e4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Qxd4 is obviously in White's favour.
Today 3...dxc4!? is more respectable, the idea usually being to meet 4.e4 with 4...b5!?, eg 5.a4 b4 6.Na2 Nf6 7.e5 Nd5 8.Bxc4 e6, with equality, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.
4.e3!?
The main move is 4.Nf3, while also popular is 4.cxd5. Garry Kasparov has tried all three.
4...g6
With the order of moves White has chosen (3.Nc3, and not 3.Nf3), 4...Bf5 is bad because of 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3. But if Black does not wish to play 4...e6 either - it may lead to the Meran Variation - he cannot do better than play the Schlechter Variation (4...g6).
Stockfish17 disagrees, reckoning 4...Bf5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 can be met by 6...Nc6!?, a move that first appears in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database in 1998. After 7.Qxb7 Bd7 8.Qb3 Rb8 9.Qd1!? e5 the engines judge Black's compensation for a pawn to be just about sufficient.
5.Nf3 Bg7
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| This position occurs 12,343 times in Mega25, going back to at least Pillsbury - Gunsberg, Hastings 1895 (1-0, 40 moves) |
*****
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6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 Bg4!?
A dubious system of development in use 25 years ago [ie the mid-1920s]. True, Black has solved the problem of development of the QB, but he leaves White the advantage of the pair of bishops.
The text is the engines' top choice.
8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 dxc4?!
A positional error. White's two bishops may be powerful if the game is opened, so Black should not have exchanged in the centre. 9...e6 is more logical.
Ragozin apparently agreed as in later games he played 9...e6 and, once, 9...e5?
10.Bxc4 Nbd7 11.Rd1 e5
Bogoljubow, against Marshall (Baden-Baden 1925), played 11...Ne8, but did not equalise the game. The text move also is no novelty; it occurred in a Bogoljubow-Rabinovich game, played in the USSR Fourth Championship (Leningrad 1925).
Now, of course, it is not in White's interest to play 12.dxe5 Nxe5, but he can operate on the d file with d5. This has the advantage that Black's bishop remains blocked.
12.d5 c5?
Rabinovich played 12...Qc7 and was left with an inferior game.
The text seems even worse. The correct treatment of the position was introduced by Lidia Semenova (2225) in her 1983 women candidates' quarter-final match, ie 12...e4! 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nb6, eg 15.Bb3 cxd5 16.Bxd5 Re8!? 17.Qf3 Nxd5 18.Rxd5, when 18...Qc7 leaves Black with good compensation for a pawn (Stcokfish17) or at most slightly worse (Dragon1).
13.d6!
This move should be made before e4 as White, in attacking the b7 pawn with his queen, gains a tempo.
13...Rb8 14.e4 Ne8
Black makes an attempt to capture the d pawn, but nothing comes of it. Moreover, even if he were to succeed, White would still have the better position as he would control files for his pieces. White's sole danger would arise if Black could transfer a knight to d4, but he cannot.
15.Be3 a6 16.a4 Rc8
Of course, neither now nor earlier could Black play ...Qb6, because of Nd5, and if ...Qxb2 then Bg5, leading to capture of the queen.
The point is that after 16...Qb6?! 17.Nd5 Qxb2? the move 18.Bg5!? (there are also other strong continuations) more-or-less obliges Black to play 18...Nxd6, when 19.Ra2 wins (18.Ra2 is even more straightforward).
17.Rd2 h6
The attempt to win the pawn could still be refuted by various means. The simplest would be 17...Rc6 18.Rad1 Nb6 19.Bd5 Nxd5 20.Rxd5, and White breaks through Black's front. Nor is the manoeuvre ...Nb8-c6-d4 possible.
Black is preparing 18...Nef6, which if played at once would be dubious because of 18.Bg5. In addition his aim is to transfer his e8 knight through f6/h7/g5/e6 to d4.
18.Rad1 Nef6 19.Nd5
White prevents the above-mentioned knight manoeuvre, and every exchange increases the strength of the d pawn.
19...Nxd5
19...Nh7?? 20.Ne7+ etc.
20.Bxd5 Rb8 21.Qe2 Kh7 22.Rc2 Qf6?!
This is a serious error. The c pawn needs protection, so Black should have played 22...Qa5, and although after 23.b3 all Back's pieces occupy passive positions, there is no obvious immediate threat to them. Even so, because of the pawn on d6, White's win is only a matter of time.
23.Ba2 Rbc8
Otherwise 24.Bxc5.
The engines suggest 23...b5!?, albeit agreeing White is winning.
24.b4
Black has no way of defending the c pawn, so he is forced to let the white rook penetrate to the seventh rank.
24...cxb4 25.Rc7 Rxc7
This of course speeds the denouement, but it is obvious that against White's two powerful bishops, the pawn on d6, a rook on the seventh rank, and equality in material, the 'struggle' would not be very interesting.
26.dxc7 Nb6
26...Qc6 could be met by 27.Qc4.
27.Bxb6 Qxb6 28.Qc4 Rc8 29.Rd7 Qc6 30.Qxc6 bxc6 31.Rxf7 c5 32.Be6 1-0
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