Chess Base Magazine Survey

My first CBM survey was published recently. It is about the Exchanged Line of the Ruy Lopez, and contains a repertoire for Black, based on the Classical 5...f6 approach. Here is one of the featured games:
Swinkels,R (2422) - Bojkov,D (2487) [C69]
Baden Challenge III Neuhausen GER (4), 07.06.2007
[Bojkov, Dejan]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0–0 f6 6.d4 exd4 7.Nxd4 c5 8.Ne2 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 Bd7 10.Nbc3 0–0–0 11.Be3 Re8 12.Rd2 Bc6 13.Rad1 b6 14.f3 Ne7 15.Nf4 Ng6 16.Nxg6 hxg6 17.Bf4

There are other ideas for White in the position, but they does not seem harmful. B. Macieja introduced an interesting exchange sacrifice that he suggested in our game post-mortem in Greece 2005 (see bellow): [17.Nd5 Bxd5 (17...Be7 18.Nxe7+ Rxe7І is slightly better for White due to the pawn majority on the king's flank.) 18.Rxd5 Bd6

19.Rxd6!? this is Macieja's idea. (19.h3?! f5 will lose a pawn for White.) 19...cxd6 20.Rxd6 Kb7 (20...Kc7 21.Bf4 g5 22.Bg3 will force the king to b7 in any case.) 21.Rd7+ Kc6 22.Rxg7 Rhg8 and Black kept the ballance in the game easily both in this game and the game Jenni, F-Brinck Klausen, B., Fuegen, 2006. 23.Rxg8 Rxg8 24.Kf2 Rh8 25.h3 b5 26.a3 a5 27.c4 Rb8 28.Bd2 b4 29.a4 Rd8 30.Ke2 g5 31.b3 Kd6 32.e5+ Kxe5 Ѕ–Ѕ Macieja,B (2585)-Naiditsch,A (2657)/Kusadasi 2006/CBM 111 ext] 17...Be7 18.Nd5 Bd8 19.Bg3 [19.g4? is premature and led to quick loss for White after: 19...f5!

20.gxf5 gxf5 21.Rg2 fxe4 22.Rxg7 exf3 23.Nf6 (23.Nxc7 Reg8 24.Ne6 Bh4 25.Bg3 Bxg3 26.Rxg3 (26.hxg3 Rh1+! 27.Kxh1 f2+ 28.Kh2 Rh8+ 29.Rh7 Rxh7#) 26...f2+ 27.Kxf2 Rxh2+ 28.Kg1 Rg2+ 29.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 30.Kf1 Rxc2–+) 23...Re7 (23...Re2 wins as well.) 24.Rxe7 Bxe7 25.Nd5 Bh4 26.Bg3 b5 27.Kf2 Bxg3+ 28.Kxg3 Rg8+ 0–1 Malisauskas,V (2503)-Georgiev,V (2535)/Turin 2006/CBM 113; 19.c4 is a recent try, but so far without much success: 19...g5 20.Bg3 g4 Very instructive is the play of Oleg Korneev: (20...a5!? 21.b3 g6 22.h3 f5 23.Re1 a4 24.Rde2 a3!? creating a reserve passed pawn. 25.exf5 Rxe2 26.Rxe2 Bxd5 27.cxd5 gxf5 28.Re6 f4 29.Be1 Kd7

and Black is already better. 30.Bc3 Rf8 31.Kf2 Be7 32.Ke2 Bd6 33.Rf6 (33.Kd3 Rf5 …34.Ke4 Rxd5! 35.Kxd5 c6+ 36.Ke4 Kxe6µ) 33...Re8+ 34.Kd2 Be5 35.Rf5 Bxc3+ 36.Kxc3 b5 37.Rxg5 Re3+ 38.Kc2 Re2+ 39.Kc3 Rxa2 40.Rg6 b4+ 41.Kc4 Rc2+ 42.Kb5 Rc3 43.Ra6 Rxb3 44.Kxc5 Rb2 0–1 Dinger,F (2317)-Korneev,O (2565)/Dresden 2007/CBM 118) 21.Re1 gxf3 22.gxf3 g5 23.Ne3 Bd7 24.Red1 Be6= 25.b3 Rh7 26.Kf2 Rf8 27.Nf5 Re8 28.Ne3 Rf8 29.Nf5 Re8 Ѕ–Ѕ Socko,B (2621)-Akopian,V (2713)/Port Erin 2006/CBM 114 ext; 19.Ne3 It is better to transpose into the game with: 19...g5 since: (19...f5 could be dangerous for Black: 20.exf5 Bf6 21.Nd5 Bd4+?

22.Rxd4 cxd4 23.Nxc7 Re2 24.Nxa6 Rxc2 25.Nb4 Rc4 26.Nxc6 Rxc6 27.fxg6± 1–0 Macieja,B (2622)-Fedorchuk,S (2599)/Warsaw 2006/CBM 115 ext (55)) 20.Bg3 and it is the stemmed game.] 19...g5 20.Ne3 g6 21.Bf2

21...a5N I found this improvement over the board. It is obvious that White is aiming to push his g pawn, and for the moment I thought that this is bad for him. That is why I make an useful move, waiting for the advance. [21...Be7 22.g4 Rd8 23.Bg3 I was more afraid of: (23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.Rxd5 Rxd5 25.Rxd5 since I thought that here I will need to exchange the rooks, and the endgames looks very bad for me. However, there is a more simple approach- 25...Bd6 26.Bg3 Kd7=) 23...Rxd2 24.Rxd2 Bd8 25.Kg2 Bd7 26.c4 Be6= Ѕ–Ѕ Macieja,B (2593)-Bojkov,D (2522)/Ermioni Argolidas GRE 2005/The Week in Chess 558 (68); 21...Rh7 22.g4 f5 (22...c4 23.Kg2 b5 24.c3 Bd7 25.Bg3 Be6 26.a4 Rd7 is about equal 1–0 Laznicka,V (2608)-Georgiev,V (2540)/Dresden 2007/CBM 118 (42)) 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.Nxf5 Bf6 25.Nd6+! cxd6 26.Rxd6± 1–0 Socko,B (2621)-Graf,A (2583)/Germany 2006/EXT 2007 (66)] 22.g4?! [better is 22.c4 a4!? with counterplay] 22...f5! blowing the position for the bishops. 23.gxf5 gxf5 24.Nxf5 [24.exf5 Bxf3 25.Re1 Bf6 is simply awful for White.] 24...g4

The logicall follow-up. 25.fxg4 Rxe4 26.Bg3 [26.h3? Bg5 and white's position is crumbling, or even-(26...Rxg4+ 27.Bg3 (27.hxg4 Rh1#) 27...Rgg8–+) ] 26...Bg5 I also need to be careful, since after the simple-hearted: [26...Rxg4??

it is White who wins thanks to a typical trick- 27.Rxd8+ Rxd8 28.Ne7++-] 27.Rd6 Kb7 28.Rxc6 Kxc6 29.h4 Bf6?! I have spend a lot of time trying to evaluate if there is a clear-cut win after: [29...Rxg4 30.hxg5 Rxg5 31.Ne7+only move (31.Rf1 Rhh5 32.Ne7+ Kd7–+) 31...Kb7 32.Kg2 (32.Kf2 Rf8+ 33.Kg2 Rf7 is only a transposition.) 32...Rh7 33.Re1 (33.Rd5 Rxg3+ 34.Kxg3 Rxe7 35.Kf2 with big advantage for Black) 33...Rhg7 34.Re3 Rxg3+ (34...c4!?) 35.Rxg3 Rxe7

Black is better and I do not risk to lose, but can I really win?! Nevertheless this was the better practical decision, depriving White of any counter-chances. ] 30.g5 Bxb2 31.Kg2 Rc4?! [Better was: 31...Re2+ 32.Kh3 Rxc2 33.Ne7+ Kb5 whree White has various tries: 34.Bxc7 (34.Kg4; 34.g6 In all cases Black is much better, but white pawns may become too fast after any mistake.) ] 32.Rd2 a4 33.Re2 a3 34.Kh3 White pawns looked too dangerous for me, and I decided to force a draw here. 34...Rf8 35.Rf2 Rh8 36.Re2 Rf8 37.Rf2 Rh8

Draw.

More information about the last CBM 128 you can find here