Variations On a Variation

In world championship matches in the first half of the 20th century, Alexander Alekhine won two games playing against the same variation of the Slav. His verdict, and the verdict officially certified by his victories, was that that particular line was simply bad for black. Now, a young Israeli grandmaster, Evgeny Postny, has engaged in an indirect argument with the former world titleholder, and he seems to have the winning side of the dispute. Alekhine’s pronouncements in this instance were simply too categorical. Employing the same “bad” line of the Slav, Postny defeated Maxim Rodshtein to tie for first place with Ilia Smirin in a strong grandmaster tournament held in the northern Israeli city of Maalot.