Yes, I Caro Kann

The Caro Kann Defense is a suitable answer to 1.e4. It can lead to positional and tactical games. In this game I was playing the black pieces. White was Roy Mallett, who was a master in that era. When answering 1.e4, he played the French Defense, which blocks the c8 bishop. Against the Caro Kann in this game he played 3.e5 and when I moved the c8 bishop, which is not blocked in the Caro Kann, Roy challenged it immediately with 4.g4. 4....Bg6 is the usual Caro Kann location for the bishop. Another choice, 4...Be4, results after 5.f3 in 5...Bg6. I retreated the bishop to d7, a square where it is more at home in the French. The early part of the game became more positional than a 4...g4 player probably hopes for. However, after castling, Black's king position appeared to be tempting danger. When I showed the game later to strong masters, they wanted to break open Black's kingside. Black was always able to defend. As the game shows, White's king also has to be someplace.