Chess Explained: The Meran Semi-Slav

By Reinaldo Vera

Published by GAMBIT

Reinaldo Vera comes from Cuba and has been a grandmaster since 1988. He has won the Cuban Championship on two occasions and was a member of the Cuban national team for more than two decades. Vera graduated from Havana University, and has written for many chess magazines, including New in Chess, Jaque and Peon de Rey. He is also a FIDE Senior Trainer, and the coach of the Cuban team.

Chess Explained books provide an understanding of an opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.

Belying its solid classical appearance, the Semi-Slav is one of Black's most aggressive responses when White opens with the queen's pawn. The Meran is its traditional main line, and often leads to chaotic positions of immense strategic and tactical richness. This is territory where the player who is better prepared and has a superior 'feel' for the nuances will typically emerge victorious, even against a stronger opponent. Vera draws upon decades of personal experience to explain the underlying logic of the Meran and related lines, and to pick out the key features of positions that to the untrained eye might appear random and unfathomable. In addition to discussing all major lines after 5 e3, Vera also covers many subtle issues of move-order, which are of great importance when trying to steer the game into the desired channels.

As customary, the book is started off where Vera gives a short introduction on the opening as a whole. He also talks a bit about the key players and ideas for each side.

The material is split up as follows...

1. Classical Meran with 8...a6
2. Modern Meran with 8...Bb7
3. The Reynolds Attack
4. Capablanca's 8.Be2 and Korchnoi's 8.Bb3
5. The Shirov-Shabalov Attack: 7. g4!?
6. Positional Anti-Meran Systems
7. The 5...a6 Line
8. Notes on Move-Orders

Continuing on in regular Chess Explained style, each section has its specific introduction telling about the line and short notes about the section's included games. Vera does a great job choosing the example games. Playing through these games and reading the annotations is sure to better your understanding in not only these lines but similar positions and structures. At the end of the book is the section on move orders. This goes over subtle move orders that can drastically change the course of the opening.

In this work Vera's 30 years of studying and playing the Semi-Slav on both sides really becomes apparent. He breaks the opening down into understandable pieces and provides information and ideas that are like keys to successfully understanding and playing this popular opening. A very nice work well worth the price!

NSG Rating = 9.4 of 10