The Chebanenko Slav: Malakhov's Lifelong Companion
When a grandmaster opens a course with the words "This variation has been my faithful companion for my entire chess life," you know you're not looking at a trendy theoretical experiment. GM Vladimir Malakhov has played the Chebanenko Slav in World Championship qualifiers, Olympiads, and blitz sessions alike—and it has never let him down.
Now, together with GM Pier Luigi Basso, he's built a two-volume series to share this repertoire with the chess world. Part 1 tackles the main battlegrounds: the systems White employs in the vast majority of games at every level.
What Makes This Course Unique
This is Malakhov's first opening course, and the personal investment shows. The Chebanenko (1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6) is his pet line, and the material reflects decades of high-level experience rather than surface-level engine prep.
The course is structured as a complete Part 1 repertoire, with Part 2 forthcoming to cover all sidelines and alternatives. The practical focus is clear: you'll face these lines over the board, and Malakhov has faced them at the top level—often with his own rare improvements that you won't find in any database.
One example: in the critical 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Qc2 system, Malakhov recommends 11...b6 after 8…g6 9.g3 Bg7 10.Bg2 0-0 11.0-0, a plan he is the only player to have tried in practice. The message is simple: after studying this course, you become the expert, not your opponent.
The duo's collaboration extends beyond this repertoire—Malakhov and Basso are also the minds behind some projects of the Universal Pawn Structures series, a three-volume exploration of middlegame planning through structural understanding. Here, they've shifted focus to opening preparation, bringing the same depth and practicality to a repertoire built for real games.
The Variation Map
After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6, White's main tries split into three branches:
5.c5 — The Space-Gaining Main Line
- 5...Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Qc2 → Chapter 3 (Malakhov's rare 11...b6)
- 5...Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Rc1 → Chapter 2 (also covers 8.h3, 8.g3, 8.Bf4)
- 5...Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 (other 7th moves for White) → Chapter 4 (covers 7.e3, 7.Bg5, 7.Qd2, 7.g3)
- 5.c5 sidelines and move-order issues → Chapter 1
5.e3 — The Classical Approach
- 5...b5 6.cxd5 → Chapter 5
- 5...b5 6.c5 → Chapter 6
- 5...b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 (top engine line) → Chapter 8
- 5...b5 6.b3 Bg4 (other 7th moves) → Chapter 7
5.g3 — The Catalan Setup
- 5...dxc4 (early sidelines) → Chapter 9
- 5...dxc4 (mainline with novelty 12...Ba6) → Chapter 10
All other sidelines, including 5.a4 and various early deviations, will be covered in the upcoming Chebanenko Slav Part 2.
Course Features
- 10 Chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go Version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN availability (English, German, French, Spanish)
If you're looking for a flexible, principled Black repertoire against 1.d4—one that has served a top-level grandmaster for decades and offers you the chance to outprepare your opponents in nearly every line—this is where you start.