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The move a7-a6 was quite familiar from lines of the Sicilian, Benoni, Modern Defense and of course the Ruy. Playing a6 was a regular in lines of the Semi-Slav; I remember a game Keres annotated where he spoke highly of a6 in lines of the defense. When it started appearing in international events about 15 years ago, it seemed just a passing fancy. As with the other examples of a7-a6 in the opening, that was incorrect thinking. Named for Moldavian chess trainer Vyachaslev Chebanenko, this form of the Slav has reached the highest levels of the chess elite, having been played by Kasparov. It is not quite in the same main vein of openings among the elite, but it does appear in top events and is regularly used by the world's best.
Sometimes such books can become tedious as the variations seem to crawl into each other, but with this book the imagination that players have used to develop the opening shines through to make it much easier to cope with. An example of this would be "Part III The Insidious 5.Ne5," where Black has listed four responses: 5...b5, 5...e6, 5...dxc4 and 5...Nbd7. Each of these retorts has its own perspectives and objectives that make them unique from the other alternatives. This is common to the lines throughout the book. I had been under the illusion that the line was a bit of "fashion" and would pass from favor. After looking at the ideas and possibilities available, I have changed my opinion. The Chebanenko is popular simply because there is a dynamic in the flexibility it offers that appeals to all players. The forward is written by Alexei Shirov and relates how he came to play the Chebanenko. This section of the book is worth reading for the level of respect given by one of the world's greats to a trainer who was hardly known outside the borders of his native country. The introduction follows and is also worth the time taken to get the spirit of the chess players who had been in the tutelage of Chebanenko. The next five "Parts" cover White's options at move 5 as described above. This is followed by a short bit of training to get the reader to feel more comfortable with some of the sights that will appear when playing this line. Material is packed on the pages and the analysis is first rate. If I was nit picky, I might suggest that it is a little difficult to navigate around to analysis of lines where White delays Nf3, but that is minor.
I recommend
this book highly to anyone who plays the defense or is thinking about it.
Volumes like this do not come along very often and this will be the standard
for the Chebanenko for years to come.
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