The Caro-Kungfu-Kann! by GM Magesh and GM Arun

You have probably noticed that we have changed our title names in the article. You must have read plenty of articles and maybe seen some videos where people and sometimes Anand himself try to explain the secret behind his first and last names. Well, we are from the same part of the world and we carry the same confusions associated with our names. We had initially been putting in our last names in the title of the article since that is the most common naming convention around the world. However, our last names also happen to be our father's names in India and in my state in particular (Tamil Nadu). So looking at the names GM Panchanathan or GM Prasad (this is actualy a middle name!) feels like the GM title has been awarded to someone else! Anyways let us not get our head spinning over this naming debate, from now on we are just going to stick with Magesh and Arun instead of Panchanathan and Prasad.

Today we will be looking into the Caro-Kann defense. This opening has always been associated with solid play. Often, when a friend of mine needs only a draw or needs to play it safe, they have chosen this defense. However, it will be interesting to look at some of the games that we have chosen today, they are purely the 'opposite' of solid. You are probably thinking "what is the deal with Kungfu in the title?"; it will be apparent when you take a look at the games.

We will try to increase our focus on the opening phase. For those who are interested in going through the entire game, it will be available in the game viewer, however we have decided to stick to just the opening phase for annotations.