I don't know if easy play is the right way of putting it. I think that caro kann players give you the space you see as an advantage in order to create a rock-solid defense through cool developement, make you over-extend your pieces to try and break through and then quickly give counterplay. That said, I'm sure you already know the themes of the C-K and caro kann players defenses don't bother you :)

I thought I'd resurrect it as I found it in a search. I have been looking at Qc7 since it's recommended in all three of the recent Caro books. I think saying "Qc7 solves all of Black’s problems" is a little too optimistic. Will it become the main line? Perhaps.

I started looking into what are the variations that give Black a hard time with this approach as I will agree at first Qc7 seems like a beautiful solution. Davies came out with a 60 minute video recently on the exchange vs the Caro. It has a whole video dedicated to reproaching Qc7 and is available for free to watch on youtube actually.

I think Davie's suggestion is pretty clever. Basically he recommends h3 after Qc7. You would assume this may be too slow but basically white is telling the black bishiop he's got nowhere to go. Many Black players fianchetto king bishop by default in this system. But with h3, white follows up with Ne2, and then Bf4 to control the diagonal and kick the queen. The usual kingside fianchetto system seems a little trickier to play in this situation. I think Black’s best maybe just to play e6 and on white following through with Bf4, offer the bishop exchange with Bd6. Sure you’re giving up your good bishop, but you have a relatively straight forward idea of minority attack or even playing in the center with e5. I think there’s a lot of options here but would definitely agree with Davies assessment that h3 provides new challenges for Black. Something to look at...

Caro Cann is one of the main opening systems against e4. If there were any ways to get serious advantage against it people would not play it.The best try is I agree the Short variation.

The exchange is most certainly not the way to play it. The only pro is that it is rather forced and there are only a few lines so it is not so hard to remember. However when i still played Caro Cann it was played against me the majority of the times so be sure that black is booked up against the exhange

I think the h3 system against the exchange is crappy and white has to be careful to avoid getting a disadvantage. For example Ne2 can be considered a bad move as it might prepare Bf4 but black is first and he just plays e5 where if anything black is slightly better (what is that knight doing on e2 ??)

Personally I disliked 2. Nc3 and 3. Nf3 most. This system does not lead to a serious advantage either but it gives the game some extra dynamics and often non typical caro can play.

i think good openings.but i dont use them yet