Hi Preston John,
I was just invited to join this forum today so I couldn't respond earlier. Anyway, I've played this line several times and I really like it. I think you wont regret the decision of exploring this line and playing it yourself.
The truth is my OTB results with it have been poor but that had little to do with the opening.
As far as books go, I have very good news for you. There is just the book you're looking for, "Play The Queen's Gambit" by Chris Ward (2006). It's a repertoire book for White starting from 1.d4 d5 2.c4 and it advocate's Shabalov's gambit, including your move order of 3.e3 against the Slav. So it has all the bases covered. BTW do you have something ready vs 3...dxc4? Either way Ward has you covered with a fun line against that.
The book is different than most other opening books in that it has a tree of variations at the beginning of every chapter, AND illustrative games. I also enjoy Ward's writing style.
Another repertoire book (I have way too many, I know) that advocated that line is "The Queen's Gambit for the Attacking Player" by Pedersen and Burgess (1994). Back then it was indeed in its infancy, but they did a good job of covering many of the variations. They also, just in case I suppose, gave another option for White against the Semi-Slav with Bg5, but avoiding the Botvinnik with a4 instead of e4. Another line I've had fun games with.
Also vs the Slav proper they cover the main line with Ne5 (but not the piece-sac line).
I highly recommend Ward's book.
I hope that helped,
Jon.
After 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nc3 Nf6 I've been fond of avoiding the main lines of the Slav with Portisch's move 4 e3. I love to see players of my caliber squirm as early as move 5 after they continue to try to play the Slav with 4...Bf5!?. Practically forced is the Meran 4...e6 or else a Schlechter with 4...g6. Alas, there is a price to pay for my early trickery. The Meran isn't exactly the easiest opening to prove an advantage in as White. Often I find that I have little to no initiative in a complicated position that could just as easily be won by either player. If only I could have my cake and eat it too by being able to play something like the Botvinnik variation. In an effort to liven up this part of my repertoire I have taken an interest (again) in the 7 g4 line popularized several years ago. I would like to know if anyone in the forum has some experience with this line or has some current theory they could share? I have no idea how it stands among players today. The one resource I have (Kaufman's Black and White book) seems to think that it was fun while it lasted but the party is over. My *Meran Variation* CD by Dreev doesn't mention it because it is technically an Anti-Meran variation. Watson's volume 2 of *Mastering the Chess Openings* doesn't give any details but thinks it is worth investing some time in. The only other sources I know of (and do not own) would be the ChessStars *Latest Trends*book (which advocates avoiding it with 6..b6 for Black instead of the standard 6...Bd6 from what I could tell) and Vera's Meran book (Gambit) which, apparently, has the most of any one resource on this line. If anyone can steer me in the right direction I would appreciate it.