Practicing the Meran Defense

The Meran Defense is a system within the Semislav body of theory.  The opening gets its name from the 1924 tournament, where it became popular among top players.

Practitioners should be prepared to learn a good amount of supporting theory, since this opening features rather sharp middle games with tactics that are, at times, stunning.

In this game, White goes wrong on move 12, and from that point on it was difficult to recover.