RotGut wrote on 05/11/06 at 22:08:38:


No doubt it is a good opening at a certain level, but as a volunteer coach of chess kids for the past 14 years, I would advise young players to adopt sharper, activity-emphasizing systems such as the Scotch, the Italian with 4. c3 and 5. d4, the Danish, or the King's Gambit.  But below 1,000 Elo or so I would not do much more than show the kid some key variations.  Below 1,000, tactics is all.

GM Kindermann offers a detailed survey about the spanish exchange variation on a german website. The language is german, but he uses the symbols of the informant, so that it might work for native english speakertoo. I also read that he will publish a book about this variation in german soon.
Something about the quality of the variation. He drawed against Shirov with the white pieces, though he had a little better position in the ending a few weeks/month ago. I am too lazy to post the moves but you should find it in TWIC.

Here is the website :
http://chessgate.de/training/training_kindermann/training_kindermann.html

Hope I could help you
Frank

8.c4 is quite a good move, clamping down on the centre. However, your 8.Re1 and a later e5 plan should be good enough to give white a minute edge, though nothing more. Black can equalise in this system, which is why it's an underrated one. 8.Re1 Ne7 9.e5 fxe5 10.Nxe5 O-O 11.Bg5 Be6 is fine for black.

8.Be3 Be6 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Qc3! O-O 11.Nc4 Qe8 12.Nxd6 or 12.Nd4 are probably the best tries for advantage for white, but there should be no problems for black with accurate play. 

Regards, 
Craig