Exchange Slav: easy draw for White?
Numerous chess books, etc., note that Black should not play the Slav (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6) if he wants to win at all costs (especially at elite level), due to the Exchange Slav (3.cxd5 cxd5). However, there are some exceptions, e.g. see the Starting Out series book on the Slav and Semi-Slav (Flear), and The Slav move by move (Lakdawala); in such cases often only one winning attempt is offered for Black as a scheme to try when confronted with this variation (though I have seen various such schemes offered, somewhat comfortingly, from Black's point of view). The question remains whether the Exchange Slav is a (relatively) easy draw for White the huge bulk of the time when played with such a result in mind by skilled hands.
Fwiw, here's the sub-wiki on the Exchange Slav; what is not mentioned is that a huge portion of most database draws are very short affairs where Black does not seem to try to win at all:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slav_D...e_Slav:_3.cxd5
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 06-27-2019 at 09:06 AM.
Reason: Adding content
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.