Refuting the Slav with the Stonewall!

"A Drawish Opening"

A common misconception about the Slav is that it tends to create drawish, completely symmetrical positions where White's play for 1. d4 is killed.

That couldn't be any farther from the truth.

The Slav provides an insane amount of attacking opportunities for White and has produced some of the most aggressive OTB games I've ever played. But these types of matches only come if you know how to exploit the Slav's weaknesses.

So, how do we do it?

The simple answer is playing the Stonewall.

Let's run it down. You want to enter an Exchange Slav, and after 3... cxd5, play Bf4. Many Black players will enter lines where they play Nc6, Nf6, and e6, followed by Bd6. The single most important thing for you is to avoid Nf3 for as long as possible, because when Black plays Bd6, you want to immediately take Bxd6 and play f4, which opens up a plethora of attacking ideas for White.

Basically, you get a color-inversed Stonewall without that annoying dark-squared bishop locked behind your pawns.

Ne5, Rf3, g4... the opportunities are endless!

I made a full study with extensive theory of the Exchange Slav. Check it out, as there's some pretty important lines to know if you want to adopt this line into your White repertoire!

Rapport's attacking masterclass vs. GM Robert Kempinski

As you might know from my previous blog post on the Hungarian Dragon, I absolutely love Rapport's creativity and his attacking style of play. I've analyzed another instructional game of his, this time on beating the Slav with the Stonewall approach.