Slav Defence
Opening course for Black · ECO D17-D19
Hold d5 with a pawn, get the bishop out first, then live on the b4-hole.
The Slav answers the Queen's Gambit with 2...c6, holding d5 with a pawn instead of shutting in the c8-bishop the way 2...e6 does. Getting that bishop out is the whole idea: Black takes on c4, plays ...Bf5, and only then builds the pawn triangle with ...e6. What you get is solidity rather than an attack, and the cost is patience. This course plays the Czech Variation, 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5, and mostly its main line, where White's own 5.a4 leaves a permanent hole on b4 that Black spends the middlegame occupying.
- Chapters
- 3
- Lines
- 6
- Sources
- 4
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: Kramnik's central counter, against 13.Bd2.
Part of your daily work.
- Learn
- Walk the line with the coach, a note on the moves that need one.
- Recall
- Play it from memory. Learned lines come back on a schedule.
- Tempo
- The same line against the clock, for a score to beat.
- Off book
- The opponent leaves the book with a real move; Stockfish prices your answers.
Before the moves: the big ideas
The c8-bishop is the reason for 2...c6
In the Queen's Gambit Declined the pawn on e6 buries that bishop and Black spends the next fifteen moves trying to free it. Here it comes out to f5 or g4 before ...e6 is played, and everything else in the opening follows from keeping it useful. When White drives it back or trades it off, check what you got in return.
White's a4 leaves a hole and Black moves in
5.a4 stops ...b5 and takes b4 away from White's own pawns for the rest of the game. Three black pieces can use the square: the dark-squared bishop, a knight coming via a6 or from d5, and the a-pawn on a5 to hold whatever lands there. Occupying b4 with tempo is why the bishop goes to b4 rather than to the safer e7.
You cannot stop e4 forever, so be ready for it
White's whole plan is 0-0, Qe2 and e4, and Black cannot prevent it indefinitely. Develop quickly instead and meet the push with a counter-break in the centre, either ...c5 or ...e5. Delaying that break too long is the usual way a comfortable Slav turns into a squeeze.
Trade when you are the cramped one
Black has less space in most of these positions, so every exchange helps. The same logic applies to pawns: when White is left with one bishop, put your queenside pawns on that bishop's colour so they are fixed where it cannot get at them.
The lines, chapter by chapter
In learning order. The coach serves review one line a day; open any line yourself when you want it now.
The Main Line Dutch
3 lines
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3, and after 9.Qe2 the bishop drops back to g6. Black gives up the bishop pair and gets a solid position with a permanent hole on b4. Three lines here, split by White's thirteenth move.
When White Hurries e4
2 lines
Two versions of the same ambition. In the first White castles and pushes on move ten; in the second the knight jumps to e5 on move six so that f3 and e4 can come together. Both are about whether Black's light-squared bishop stays a piece or becomes a spectator.
A Fifth Move of Your Own
1 line
5...Na6 instead of 5...Bf5. Black lets White have e4 and heads straight for the hole on b4. It is a practical choice rather than a theoretical one: White has to get several things right and often does not.
Puzzles from this opening
The Slav Defence in brief
The Slav Defence is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6, and it is filed under ECO D17-D19. This course teaches it from Black's side in 6 drills across 3 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
- Kramnik's central counter against 13.Bd2
- Holding the break back against 13.Qc2
- Declining the a-pawn against 13.Na2
- Meeting the early push against 10.e4
- Keeping the bishop alive against 6.Ne5 against 6.Ne5
- The Smyslov Variation against 6.e4 Bg4
Theory credited to
- Opening Repertoire: The SlavIM Cyrus Lakdawala
- First Steps: The Queen's GambitIM Andrew Martin
- Wikipedia: Slav Defense
- lichess-org/chess-openings
9 branches are deliberately not drilled here, and the course records which and why rather than leaving the gap silent.
Questions
- What is the Slav Defence?
- The Slav Defence is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6, filed under ECO D17-D19. Hold d5 with a pawn, get the bishop out first, then live on the b4-hole. The Slav answers the Queen's Gambit with 2...c6, holding d5 with a pawn instead of shutting in the c8-bishop the way 2...e6 does.
- How do you learn the Slav Defence?
- This course splits it into 6 drills across 3 chapters. You play each line from Black's side against a coach note that explains the move, then the same lines come back on a spaced-repetition schedule until you can play them without prompting. Every position is verified with Stockfish at depth 20 before it ships.
- Where does the theory in this Slav Defence course come from?
- From published work by IM Cyrus Lakdawala, IM Andrew Martin and the reference sources credited on this page. The engine verifies the moves; the plans and assessments belong to the authors, and every drill records the page or section it came from.