Is the Semi-Slav in trouble?

Looking at chessgames.com, I see that so far, only 19 Semi-Slav games have been played so far this year.  (In comparison, there has been 53 Sicilian Najdorf games so far.)  Black won in only one game.  The others were all loses for Black or draws.

(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=2014&playercomp=either&pid=&player=&pid2=&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=D43-D49&eco=&result=)

Is the Semi-Slav in trouble, theoretically?  If so, in what way (i.e. is a particular line troublesome or is the opening just unsound in general)?  And could that problem, whatever it is, be fixed soon?

There's only 19 games played and we are only in febuary. This isnt a big enough sample size.

in regards to your question.

1.I went through about 7 of the games and i think only 2 shared a somewhat similar line, most of them were completely different.So no, the semi-slav and orthodox QGD (which some transposed into) have NOT been busted.

2.Below top level (none GM, which many of the players on that list were not) the semi-slav is maybe a bit less popular, black can't really forcehis way into the semi-slav and white has a large amount of options to choose from, which drives players away.
Comparitively, black can force a sicilian on his opponent, and will usually be able to get a Najdorf, since whites options other than the open sicilian arnt all too good.

In most of the white wins, the white player was rated at least 100 points higher than black.

I can't see a much higher rated player as black choosing the Slav/Semi-Slav because of the Slav Exchange-it's an opening where a player on the white side if they are at least an FM or IM can draw with quite easily against a much stronger black player. So I think this is why the Slav/Semi-Slav is not seen as much.

gundamv, relax.  The Semi-Slav will never be in any trouble.  It is just about the best defense there is.

#AkibaRubinstein

#Moscow

GM Malakhov plays the slav and semi-slav. He is doing okay at 2700.

rtr1129, Why the obsession with Malakhov?

Is it because he is a model for the repertoire of Accelerated Dragon and Slav?

#theoreticalphysics

I am equally interested in all players rated 2700+ who give candid interviews discussing their chess study habits.

It's one of the cases where numbers can be confusing.

Semi Slav is easier to play wth white than with Black.White needs to know his lines only whle Black needs to know practically everything.Even the middlegame positions seems to be more straightforward for white while Black has to be ready to deal with a wide range of positions.

If you check the games of those that are considered to be experts of the oepning , you will reach the conclusion that Semi Slav gives equal chances to both sides.

I checked only 2 of them:

Aleksey  Dreev for example has 27 defeats 53 draws  and 34 wins as Black and Evgeny Sveshnikov has 14 defeats 24 draws 12 wins. 

Perhaps then you would be interested in the interview Magnus Carlsen gave about his time with Garry Kasparov.  Kasparov was pressing him too hard.  Magnus was uncomfortable and responded as a mature person should: he called his father and said, "Get me out of this."

That's our World Champion.

#hypnotoad