Hi. I'm debating between whether to play as  black against e4 1... e5 or Caro-Kann 1...c6. I'm rated around USCF 1780 and I play 1... e5 mostly. However, I don't really know the main lines or moves. Recently, I "discovered" the Caro-Kann and I seem to like it so far. I don't know whether to switch though. I play Slav against 1 d4 and I like solid positions as opposed to sharp theroetical ones.

However, I'm afraid of two things:

1) playing c6 is drawish and won't help me improve (I want to reach master someday)

2) Playing c6 won't help me improve in the long run (I heard this from somewhere) because its positions are too passive

3) The Caro-kann is too passive and I need to be more aggressive.

Any advice? Thank you so much.

The CK isn't drawish.  Solid, sure.  But there are enough imbalances inherent in the Caro-Slav pawn structure that you should generally have a chance to outplay your opponent.  High-level games don't suggest a particularly high draw ratio, either.

People seem to confuse solidity with lack of ambition, and they shouldn't.  It's just about what suits your style.

He said "passive" not "drawish". Not once did he mention "drawish". You seem to be confusing them yourself!

If you go for the Bronstein-Larsen version of the Caro Kahn it's certainly not drawish.

He did mention drawish. Directly after "1)"

e5, there's a lot of different variations and you'll never get bored of it.

caro cann is risky if you don't know the lines in and out. Theres a range from classical to exchange lines which each have their own tricks. If u want the caro cann, study some lines

OP, did you edit your post after posting it?

I play Caro Kann and Slav too actually. I don't think Caro Kann is very drawish, though it is somewhat defensive, in that in a lot of my (sub-1600, so maybe not true for those above that level) games I tend to end up settling back and waiting for white to overextend himself and make slip-ups. Perhaps at a higher level, where those slips are rarer, it may be drawish. It's very solid. I end up playing the Advance Variation a lot, which leads to quite closed and defensive positions in my experience. I do like it a lot though.

No, you just misread... lol

The carokann is great if you are NOT an agressive player. You will do best if you are a positional player, because in the carokann, if anyone is attacking it will most likely be white, unless black can perform tactics which will give him the initiative.

Can the caro-kann, too many traps, boring. Pick something more aggressive, Sicilian, more adventurous, the French.

I didn't misread it. I believe he edited his post.

 Right.  Because the OP and I are engaged in a conspiracy to make you look foolish, because you're just that important.  A conspiracy which, by the way, we undertook before we even knew for certain that you'd be posting.  Making us both treacherous AND psychic.

Makes sense.

You need to learn 1 ...e5 first. Now you don't know "the main lines or moves," so it is premature to try other openings.  Learn the basics first.

Discover the properties of the common pawn structures resulting from 1  e4 e5 (colors may be reversed in these examples):  e4 v e5 with an open d-file, e4 d4 v e5 d6, e4 v d6 w/no White d-pawn or Black e-pawn, and e4 d3 v e5 d6 with f4 or ...f5.

If you cannot play the thematic strategies in each of these formations, you have no business thinking of the Caro or Sicilian.

1.e5 or 1.c6 this one is a tough one to answer actually, I know a friend that plays on here and he plays c6 almost religiously and as far as i know he hasnt booked up more then lets say the ng5 line in the classical variation, so in reality the caro kann is not as bookish as most people think. The key is to make logical moves and not ones that are bad on the eyes,for some reason this works out really well in the caro kann.

1.e5 though is something you will really need to book up on if you want to play it but that depends, will you play the the petroff and if so then you have much less theory to book on, will you got into the ruy lopez, scotch, the guico piano or something along those lines when you answer 2.nf3 with nc6, how will you answer the kings gambit,etc,etc. Once you learn all or even some of that theory e5 can be turned into a great and easy opening to play.

my rating scale

caro kann would be a 8/10 just a little too defensive and positional but if you like that then the caro kann is a 10/10, e5 would be a 7.5 cause of the amount of theory you need, but once you learn that theory the opening becomes almost natural for both sides of the bored when facing e5 and using e5.

my opinion at 2:30 am, hope you enjoy it

Funny you should ask I've been playing the CKD frequently as of late, even though I used to favor aggressive openings & play. I've found that a lot of my opponents play really crappy lines as White giving me easy equality. In fact my only losses have been to Experts/Masters, usually with the Advance Variation.

As for your "need to be more aggressive" sez who? You? Someone else? Great players like Karpov & Petrosian got by just fine without being aggressive most of the time, and Keres also became more conservative (ie less aggressive) in his later years.

As for "what you heard somewhere" (maybe possibly perhaps) it won't help you improve I've won several games with it so far after losing several with RL - Berlin Defense and the Center-Counter Defense (gag, retch).That counts as "improvement" to me!

Yeah it's more drawish than the FD, SD and other openings but with a rating of 1200 that's irrelevant - it's more drawish when you get up to and past Master level.

You might as well try it in several games & see if you like it or not - you can still be more aggressive as White and vs. 1.d4 and/or 1.c4. GOOD LUCK!

I cant play e4 e5 as black...