I am not jet a member of the 1.e4 e5 section.

I am ONLY intressted in the roy exchange. Is it worth to become a member in this section for that only reason?

How is it covered?

There is also a book by Andrew Kinsman called The Spanish Exchange and published by Batsford. It is a little old (1998) so you would have to supplement the analysis. However, it is very well written (like other Kinsman books I have seen) and has excellent explanations. There is also a neat summary of typical themes in the Introduction.

Yes ChessMonkey, I am aware of that move, 8.Be3, it has been adopted by Rozentalis most of his games. To me, it's as good as 8.Nbd2, equal. And in practice I would probably play 8.Be3 to force quickly the exchange even at the cost of doubled pawns but after all, in most of the 8.Nbd2 lines, pawns are doubled too and there is more dark lines here, even the less known 8..g5!? seems good for Black, and there is nothing wrong with the normal 8..Ng6, and even 8..Bd6 but about the last move Iam less sure.

ArKheiN wrote on 08/05/09 at 21:51:52:


Panczyk and Ilczuk's book on the Exchange highlights the Ne2 line (which is where I first saw it) and I've always gotten good play from that line.  The Bg4 line is difficult to get an advantage, but I've been avoiding the main line there and opting for 8. Be3 (accepting the double f-pawns and following Shirov's plan of bringing the King's Rook over to b1 and pushing pawns there), which has baffled some of my opponents who leave the Bishop on g4 too long and are surprised when I snap it off at the appropriate time!

Someone who wants to study the Spanish exchange has to watch Rozentalis's games,  and Oral's games, both uses the exchange as their only weapon at master level, and Oral's score is very impressive. Their games seems to prove that 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Ne2 is better than 8.Nb3, watching for the the d5 square and using the classical trick Bf4! against Bd6. I have been so impressed by theses games by White that I think White is practically winning with good play against 5..f6. (I may be far but that's a dream to play as White if you like technical play and if your opponent like counter play). One of the biggest challenge to me if not the biggest is against 5..Bg4! 6.h3 h5 where I did not find any small advantage for White even after watching expert's games.

Alright that's excellent information.  I am a class A OTB player.   

I've been using Fischer's notes in My 60 Memorable Games as a point of reference, along with a game played recently between myself and NM Bill Evans which I've been using heavily.   

Here's the game if you're interested, it's a fascinating (very thematic) game.  I lost with the black pieces.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Nb3 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bg4 10.f3 Be6
11.Nc3 Bd6 12.Be3 b6 13.a4 Kf7 14.a5 c4 15.Nd4 b5 16.f4 Ne7 17.e5 fxe5 18.fxe5 Bxe5 19.Rf1+ Bf6 20.Bg5 Bd5
21.Rae1 Rad8 22.Bxf6 gxf6 23.Nf3 Bxf3 24.Rxf3 Rhg8 25.Ne4 f5 26.Nc5 Rd6 27.Rfe3 Ng6 28.Kf1 Ra8 29.b4 Rd2 30.R3e2 Rxe2
31.Rxe2 Nf8 32.Rf2 Kg6 33.h3 h5 34.g3 Nh7 35.Re2 Ng5 36.Re7 f4 37.h4 fxg3 38.Kg2 Nf7 39.Rxc7 Ne5 40.Kxg3 Rf8
41.Re7 Rf3+ 42.Kg2 Re3 43.Nxa6 Kf5 44.Nc7 Re2+ 45.Kf1 Rd2 46.Nxb5 Nf3 47.Re2 Nh2+ 48.Ke1 1-0

I'll definitely make a point of taking a look at Kindermann's book!  Thanks!

Welcome to the forum! 

It depends on how you want to approach this. I play the White side of the exchange and own an excellent book by Kindermann (The Spanish Exchange Variation - Edition Olms). It has a small introduction on the main themes and the pawn endgame (White's dream) and then goes on to present all the main lines (warning: this is the main part of the book and it gets quite theoretical, however I believe you first need to play through some of the games and avoid focusing on memorizing any lines / the plus side is that you will have a good reference book for many-many years).

The book's layout is very good (the detailed index of lines is also very helpful), only one small annoying thing: captures, checks, etc. are not mentioned, ie.: instead of  1. KxNf3 Qxg3+ you see 1. Kf3 Qg3 (at least it's all in figurines iirc). There is also a PGN somewhere on the internet with all the lines in the book, which is helpful if you plan to read this book while using Chessbase.

An older book - Mastering the Spanish - Ponzetto & King, has also a good chapter on the exchange (theory there is less updated though / this again is not such a problem for me: I still play the 'older' lines instead of the modern ones recommended by Kindermann). This is a hard to find book, however if you play the Spanish with both colours, this is a very good buy and a very easy book to read.

A 3rd source I have consulted was Fischer's 60 Memorable Games, where he includes some notes on the Spanish Exchange, esp. in his game against Gligoric.

There are some other books on the market but have never seen or read them so maybe someone else can inform you about them. It would be also helpful if you told us your current level, e.g. if below 1700 I would say go for 'Mastering the Spanish', if above 1700 try Kindermann's book.

This is my 2c