Everything You Need to Know About Semi Slav and Slav Defense

Slav defense is a beautiful and durable opening that is important for any player to know. If you want to become better in chess you should study Slav and Semi Slav Defense in order to improve your aggression and make very good openings. Nowadays, many top players use Slav Defense and it’s one of the openings that I like to use. Slav Defense is strongly related to Queen’s Gambit and I encourage you to read my other articles on the Declined one and the Accepted one which I am sure that you will find them equally interesting as this one.

An introduction to Semi Slav and Slav Defense

The moves of this opening are 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6.

Let’s check the more important variations of the Slav opening.

Semi Slav Defense

Semi Slav Defense is an opening that is full of aggressive gameplay by both sides. The moves of this opening are 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6. Let’s see a game of Semi Slav Defense.

Exchange Variation

This variation begins with the following moves, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5. It’s interesting how White is trying to exploit his extra tempo in a symmetrical position and play without risk. On the other hand, Black is trying not to give an advantage to White.

Czech Variation

The Czech Variation of the Slav Defense was one of the favorite openings of the World Champion, Vasily Smyslov.

Botvinnik Variation, Semi Slav Defense

It’s an opening with complex positions and many attacks.

Meran Variation

Abrahams Variation

The beginning moves of the Abrahams Variation are 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6.

Marshall Variation

The Marshall Variation is an opening on which White is playing extremely aggressively and Black is trying to prepare a good defense. The moves are 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e6 4.e4.

Illustrative Games of Semi Slav and Slav Defense

Like all my other articles, I have chosen some amazing games. They have been played by top players and you can gain valuable lessons from these games. So, I think it’s a great idea to analyze each move and I wrote some comments to help you.

Soultanbeieff Variation

Semi Slav, Hastings variation

Czech Defense

Slav Defense, 4.e3

Slav Defense, Championship Match

Queen’s pawn game, Semi Slav Defense

Recommended Books and Courses

Slav Defense and Semi-Slav Defense are openings that  Grandmasters often use. Therefore, I think you should practice them as well. It’s a good idea to buy a book because the variations related to them are many. The following books are well-written and you can find them available at an affordable price. A good book for both Slav Defense and Semi-Slav Defense is Starting Out: Slav & Semi-Slav.

Recommendations only for Semi-Slav Defense

1. The Semi-Slav: Grandmaster Repertoire
2. Semi-Slav by Matthew Sadler

Recommendations only for Slav Defense

1. Slav: Move by Move
2. Grandmaster Repertoire 17: The Classical Slav

Courses

If you don’t like reading, there are video courses that will give you condensed knowledge and not unnecessary information. If you are struggling to win in chess, it’s a great way to rapidly improve your skills and learn your mistakes from the courses’ exercises. You can check out the following courses.

• The Grandmaster’s Openings Laboratory
• The Grandmaster’s Positional Understanding
• Your Winning Plan

Final Thoughts

Please make sure to check my other articles about strategies and openings like fianchetto, the English Opening, and the French Defense. I hope you liked this article and would like to make a comment about it. Please share this article if the information in this article was valuable. Enjoy chess.