Short & Sweet Classical Slav + PGN

Try the old reliable Slav – with a modern twist

When one hears the term “solid” used to describe an opening, they usually think of low-risk, but boring positions.

And on the surface, you may even think that’s what the Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) is. Something that will keep you out of deep tactical trouble, but unlikely to give you exciting games.

Solid it is, but it also has the potential for some very rich battles over the board.

How do we know?

Because when an opening analyst for Magnus Carlsen adopts it and makes it his own, you know it’s solid.

Your author, Grandmaster Nils Grandelius, was not only a member of Magnus Carlsen’s World Championship Preparation team, but he was also Swedish Chess Champion and has racked up countless tournament victories over the years.

By studying the opening to use in his own tournament play, he found it uniquely suitable both for super GMs and beginners alike.

In his full course, Lifetime Repertoires: Classical Slav, he gives lines strong enough to challenge the strongest of super GMs, yet theory that is approachable enough for lower-rated players not looking to take on too much memorization.

That’s because the ideas and structures tend to repeat across most variations.

And now you can sample it yourself with these 11 variations:

♛ Black’s attempt at a Semi-Slav

♛ The Exchange Variation

♛ The “Slow Slav” (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3)

♛ The Fianchetto Variation

♛ 4.Nbd2 and 4.Qc2

♛ The Geller Gambit (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4)

♛ The rare 5.g3

♛ 6.e3 and 6.Ne5

♛ The Morozevich Line (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4)