The Shabalov Attack is a line in the Meran-Semi Slav. Following the moves 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 e6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 Bd6 7 g4!?, Black is faced with the difficult question of whether to accept the gambit. The g4 pawn thrust is a common attacking move in many Sicilian systems for white, however, the move isn’t seen as often in Queen’s pawn games. With 7 g4!?, white is threatening to boost Black’s knight from its comfortable home on f6 and steamroll on with an early kingside initiative. In his book The Meran System, Steffan Pederson offers four logical replies to the tactical gauntlet implicit in 7 g4:
1. 7…h6 (White wins 45.2% of 93 games, draws 23.7% and loses 31.2%)
2. 7…dxc4 (117 games. 36.8%, 35% and 28.2%)
3. 7…Nxg4 (80 games. 53.8%, 30% and 16.2%)
4. 7…Bb4 (83 games. 43.4%, 30.1% and 26.5%)
