The Modern Strategy against the Berlin

I've been busy preparing chess material for my groups, and in doing so, I noticed some patterns coming up in how strong players have recently been fighting against the Berlin Ruy Lopez:

I have done quite a bit of analysis to draw my own conclusions, and assess what the future developments will be, along with where White can pose the most practical problems for the opponent since it would not be realistic to claim a clear White advantage in all lines against the robust Berlin. 

I'm very excited to share these insights in my paid groups in the future, but for now, I will give you a short overview.

The main trend against the Berlin Defense right now is:

Another appealing part of this line is that it is hard for Black to avoid this type of position. Sure, he can play 4...d6, but then he is a bit worse, as White will be first to take over the centre with c3 and then d4 in the middlegame. The game below is a good example:

In short, the most appealing factor behind the 5.Bxc6 line is that White gets to choose the nature of the position, based on his own stylistic preference, and what will be most annoying for that given opponent. If you don't want a strategic battle with kingside castling, you can instead castle on opposite sides for a sharper game:

That explains why White often played 5.c3 in the past, stopping ...Nd4 and also introducing the possibility of Bxc6 and Nxe5 to grab a pawn (by stopping ...Qd4 in reply). However, Kramnik developed the reply 5...d5, a pawn sacrifice that seems to neutralize this line. Aronian, another Berlin expert, has also been successful with this in recent games, for instance:

These lines explain the point of Carlsen's 5.Ba4!? move, avoiding both ...Nd4 and ...d5 ideas. It looks like a silly move, but it scores very well for White. Here's a high-level example:

There was a point in time where I honestly believed 5.Ba4 to be the best try for a White advantage. However, if Black has the flexibility to play both 3...a6 and 3...Nf6, he can play 7...a6!? to transpose into the 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 lines, which were fine for Black the last time I checked. 

So, 5.Ba4 is a nice move order trick, but ultimately, White has been scoring very well with 5.Bxc6! in recent GM games, and until Black comes up with a better solution, I think it's fair to say that the arising positions are easier to play for White in practice. 

I will share much more detailed analysis of this 5.Bxc6 line (going beyond my previous Yearbook Survey on this variation) in my chess mastermind in the near future. You can join our group of chess improvers here. 

What are your thoughts on this Anti-Berlin?