When playing 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6, one must be ready to play against the Exchange Ruy Lopez. I have become fascinated with this line as Black. When I first received Marin’s excellent book “Beating the Open Games”, I dived right in. There is one line though that has been giving me trouble lately. I wasn’t really happy with the positions so I used Fritz and Hiarcs to analyze some positions. The line is


1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. O-O f6 6. d4 Bg4 7. c3 Bd6 8. Be3 Ne7 (Hiarcs book has Qe7 here). Now in Marin’s book, he dismisses Qe7 on account of 9. Nbd2 O-O-O 10. Qc2 exd4 11. cxd4 Re8 12. Rfc1! Bxf3 13. gxf3 g5 (13. … Qe6 14. Nc4 f5 15. d5! With attack on the King). More on this line later.


After 8. … Ne7 9. Nbd2 (Hiarcs recommends dxe5) O-O (+-) 10. Qb3+ Kh8 11. Qxb7 Be6 (+-) 12. dxe5 (Marin doesn’t cover this but it seems better than c4 or Nb3 which he mentions) fxe5 13. Rfd1 (+-) Qe8! (+=) This moves appears to save black. 14. b4 Qh5 (+=) 15. Ba7 Ng6 (+=) 16. Nf1 Nf4 (Any other White move appears to lead to an equal position or advantage for Black). 17. Ng3 Qg4 (= Only now does Hiarcs see the position as =) 18. Ne1 Ne2+ 19. Nxe2 Qxe2 20. Nf3 Qb5 21. Qxb5 axb5 with equality. So it appears after Ne7, Black has to walk a very tight line but can equalize after Nbd2.


What about the Hiarcs recommendation of 9. dxe5?


9. dxe5 fxe5 (+=) 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Qb3+ Kh8 12. Qxb7 Qd7 13. Qb3 (forced) but then White has a huge advantage. Even 12. … Qe8 doesn’t help Black here I don’t think. I haven’t been able to find a good line for Black after dxe5 fxe5.


Not finding anything good in the last line, I turned my attention now to 8. … Qe7 which was dismissed by Marin.


Marin gives the following variation as being much better for White:
8. Be3 Qe7 9. Nbd2 O-O-O 10. Qc2 exd4 11. cxd4 Re8 12. Rfc1 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qe6 14. Nc4 f5 15. d5! With White getting a successful attack on Black’s King. I’m not sure it is so clear.


Some analysis from Fritz and Hiarcs:


8. Be3 Qe7 9. Nbd2 O-O-O (+=) 10. Qc2 exd4 (=) 11. cxd4 Re8 12. Rfc1 (not mentioned by Hiarcs) Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qe6 14. Nc4 Ne7 (seems to keep the position equal watching d5). Going back a few moves though, Hiarcs recommends 10. dxe5 fxe5 11. b4 Nf6 12. Qc2 Qe8 13. Be6 the position is =, so maybe 8. … Qe7 isn’t so bad after all.


What are some other views on these two lines 8. … Ne7 and 8. … Qe7. After this analysis does it look like Qe7 is more playable for Black. Is there something I missed in the analysis of these two lines?

I haven't looked through your full analysis, though I will when I get time - I've recently started playing this opening as white.

I have the book "The Spanish Exchange Variation" by GM Stefan Kindermann, and he actually considers 5. ... Bg4 to be the strongest line for black. That's how I always play this as black, also. If you're having trouble finding a line you really like with 5. ... f6, you ought to look into that line instead.

--Fromper