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ChessIsWar92
in your opinion
IM pfren
French is more ambitious, but it takes more risks.
Pretty much a matter of taste, both openings are perfectly good.
MrEdCollins
Neither one is "better."Many lines of the French offer Black a better chance of winning the game, but it also provides Black a better chance of losing the game. Many Caro-Kann lines are modest attempts to hold the balance, where Black hopes to exploit a nuanced White mistake. And yet many lines of the French feature full blooded counter attacks and dynamic unbalanced positions. Playing the French well probably demands more theoretical preparation and general chess understanding than the Caro Kann.Both French and Caro Kann have their owns tastes. It depends upon your style of play. I've read that overall, the French is more complex and tends to be more of a tactical game, while the Caro-Kann is a solid and positional game. However, with my games I'm not so sure that's true. I play both the French and the Caro-Kann and I'm a big fan of both.
FirebrandX
I'd started off with the French and switched to the Caro-Kann, but that was just because of my personal preference after getting familiar with both. Like the others have said, it's a risk/reward factor. You could rank the major replies by black in terms of risk/reward as follows:
1. Sicilian
2. Open game (e5)
3. Pirc/Modern (more risky than e5, but less performance reward imo)
4. French
5. Scandinavian
6. Caro-Kann
5/16/2013 - Mate in 5
by akharade32 3 minutes ago
B Vs. R ending. Very long drawn out.
by Ubik42 3 minutes ago
Chess Has Been Busted
by DrFrank124c 5 minutes ago
Discovered check and discovered attack
by Jamalov 6 minutes ago
5/24/2013 - Winning With Technique
by Kahia 6 minutes ago
Is it possible that there are psychic chess masters
by Irontiger 7 minutes ago
Have you ever played chess with a bad Headache or Migraine?
by royalbishop 8 minutes ago
Beautiful Mate
by Lydaw 15 minutes ago
It is time to resign: Are there moral codes?
by Stigmatisert 16 minutes ago
1.d4 refuted...?
by D_for_DJ 18 minutes ago