The Complete Beginner Guide To The Caro-Kann
Today’s blog will be a continuation of my blog series, The Complete Beginner Guide, in this series I already have 3 installments, The guide to the London System which has over 1,100 views making it my most popular blog, one guide to the Italian and my most recent one, which was a the Sicilian. Now I will show you the fourth blog in this series, The Complete Beginner Guide To The Caro-Kann.
This blog will cover most of the key lines and variations in this opening, along with a few traps of course.
What is it?
This opening starts with white playing the move 1.e5, the most common move to start the game, and here black plays a much more less popular move than say e5 or c5, actually it is only the 5th most popular move here, that is 1…c6, the Caro-Kann! Now after 1...c6 white’s most common response, and there best response, is to play d4 taking more space in the center. After this black will follow there theory and play d5. Now you may be asking, “Doesn’t this look an awful lot like the french defense with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5?”, and yes, you would be right, however one of the key differences and advantages the Caro-Kann has from the French is that in the Caro-Kann the light squared bishops diagonal is left open, while in the French the e6 pawn blocks the bishop, this is one reason why many players prefer the Caro-Kann.
The Caro-Kann has of 3 main branches, depending of what white plays on move 3, there is the Advanced with 3.e5, the Exchange with 3.exd5, and the third most popular 3.Nc3. While there are other moves white can play like the Modern with 3.Nd2 the Maroczy with 3.f3, these moves are a lot less popular so they wont be covered in this blog. So lets get over these Main Lines shall we?
The Exchange Variation
First we have 3.exd5, this is so popular among lower rated players because it is the simplest option white can take, even tho it is not the best move, actually it is the worst of the 3 moves white could play, this is because blacks pawn that was previously on c6 no goes to d5, freeing up space for blacks knight to develop. Further more before 3.exd5 white had two pawns on the e and d file, but now white only has one pawn on these files while black still has two, giving black more of a advantage.
After 3...cxd5 white will follow up with 4.Nf3, black will play Nc6 and here white plays 5.Nc3 and black develops further with Bg4, here whites knight is pinned so white will play 6.Be2 and black now plays e6 allowing there dark squared bishop to develop which helps to get ready to castle. After this white will castle and black develops there knight with Nf6 and here because white doesn’t like the pin on there knight they will play 8.h3 Bh5 followed by 9.Bg5 and black could play ether Be7 or Bd6.
Here black has an advantage -0.4 according to the computer and in general wins 56% of games, this is because first of all black has the semi open c file for there rook and they have the knight jump with Ne4 which can add even more pressure on white.
Instead of 4.Nf3 a more advantageous move for white to play is 4.c4, the Panov attack. Here black will play Nf6 and white will respond with 5.Nc3 black usually goes Nc6 and white will continue to develop knights with 6.Nf3, black commonly responds with Bg4, and here white plays 7.cxd5 Nxd5 and white goes 8.Qb3 Bxf3 9.gxf3 and black defends with e6, 10.Qxb7 and black responds with Nxd4 11.Bb5+ Nxb5 and white is sneaky and plays 12.Qc6+ Ke7 13.Qxb5 Overall white has a good advantage of 46% to blacks 38%.
And another move white can play instead of 4.Nf3 is 4.Bd3, after this black will play Nc6, and white will cement there pawn chain with 5.c3 Nf6 and after this white will develop there dark squared bishop with 6.Bf4, Bg4 is played by black attacking whites queen, here white plays 7.Qb3 Qb6, instead of trading white plays 8.Nd2 e6 9.Ngf3 getting white ready to castle, and black also gets there king ready to castle with Be7, 10.O-O O-O 11.Rfe1, and black has several moves to think about, Rac8 and Qxb3 among them. Here white has a higher advantage of 53% to blacks 40% due to white being a little more open.
3.Nc3, The Main Line
Back in the day the move 3.Nc3 was considered as the main line for white and was the most played, however since then it has gone a lot less popular and is now the least played move of the 3 main lines for white, however it is still an extremely popular move for white to play, so I will analysis it now. This move is popular because first of all it protects the undefended e pawn and adds pressure to blacks d pawn.
After 3.Nc3 black most often responds with dxe4 4.Nxe4 and here there are to ways that black can respond that are pretty much equally as common, these moves are 4...Nf6 and 4...Bf5, lets start with Nf6.
However before that I want to show you a trap that many players fall for if they want to play Nf6 but they don’t want to double there pawns so they go 4...Nd7, here white can be sneaky and go 5.Qe2, and if black follows there plan with Ngf6, they lose to 5.Nd6#. About 30,000 people fell for this trick with the average rating being 1878.
After Nf6 white will trade with 5.Nxf6+ exf6 and here white will go 6.Nf3 black play Bd6 getting ready to castle, 7.Bd3 O-O, white does the same with 8.O-O black pins the knight with Bg4, white will usually counter with 9.h3 Bh5 and here whites most popular move is 10.c3 and black plays Nd7. In general black has a better position, winning 52% to whites 41%.
Another option after 4...Nf6, is that instead of 5.Nxf6+ white may also play two other moves, Ng5 or Ng3, lets talk about Ng3 first since it is more popular. After this black will usually go Bg4, attacking the queen, 6.Nf3 blocking the threat, e6 and white goes 7.Be2 Bd6 8.O-O O-O, here white protects there pawn chain with 9.c3 Nbd7. Here it is pretty much even, with white only slightly ahead with 49% to blacks 46% because they have a bit more space then black.
However white can also play 5.Ng5, black will play h6, and here white can opt for the dangerous Alien Gambit with 6.Nxf7! You can see that its affective because already has a 60% win rate to blacks 37%, here is one of the lines. After black plays 6...Kxf7 taking whites knight white follow s up with 7.Nf3, aiming in the future to go and play Ne5+, blacks responds with Bg4, which looks good at first but is actually a mistake because white plays 8.Ne5+ forking the king and bishop which gives white a 84% win rate and a +4.0 advantage according to the engine! That’s already bad for black, but it gets worse as after Kg8 instead of capturing the bishop white plays 9.Bc4+! Kh7 and white follows up with 10.Qe3+ g6 11.Qxg6#. You can learn more about this opening in another blog I made called “The Alien Gambit: Top Five Traps”.
Now we have 4...Bf5, attacking whites knight, they will move there knight away with 5.Ng3 and black moves there bishop from harm with Bg6, white develops with 6.Nf3 Nd7 and white goes 7.h4 trying to trap the bishop, black plays h6 to make an escape way, 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 and black trades with Bxd3 10.Qxd3 and black opens up the dark squared bishop with e6. Overall white has the advantage, 48% to blacks 45%, this is due to there more space and more attacking opportunities, but white is only ahead slightly.
3...Bf5
The final main line, which is the most popular, is the Advanced with 3.e5, this move gives black two main options, ether the Botvinnik-Carls with c5 or Bf5. I will go over Bf5 first since it is more popular.
After Bf5 whites most common response is 4.Nf3, black will continue there plan with e6, and white targets blacks bishop with 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3, black plays c5 trying to develop there knight, and white responds with 7.c3 cementing there pawn chain, Nc6 8.O-O and black follows up with Qb6 9.b3 cxd4 10.cxd4 and black plays Nge7, planning on targeting the c2 square. Overall black has the advantage, with a 55% win rate to whites 41%, this is due to the open c file black can exploit and they overall have better attacking chances.
If Instead of 4.Nf3 white may play 4.Bd3, here black will exchange Bxd3 5.Qxd3, black does the same as last time with e6, and white develops with 6.Nf3. Really in the end this line typically plays out the same as if white plays 4.Nf3 instead of Bd3.
Now instead of these previous moves white can also play a more tricky line with 4.h4, if black doesn’t see the threat and continues with e6 then white can play 5.g4, attacking the bishop, black tries to escape with Be4 then 6.f3! The only place to go is Bg6 and then its trapped with 7.h5!
Now this variation, known as the Tal, is not just a one trap thing, it can still work if black prevents it with 4…h5. After h5 white should strike further at black with 5.Bg5, here black will attack the undefended b pawn with Qb6, white plays 6.Bd3 Bxd3 7.Qxd3 and black continues there plan with e6, white goes 8.Nd2 and black continues as normal with c5 but white strikes back with 9.c4 cxd4 10.cxd5 exd5. In the end white has an advantage of 72% win rate to blacks 23%.
The Botvinnik-Carls Variation
And now we have the move 3…c5.
After this white most common move is 4.c3, which is wrong but i will get into that later, after this black will play Nc6, white develops further with 5.Nf3, black pins the knight with Bg4 6.Be2 getting ready to castle, black goes e6 7.O-O and black continues with Nge7, 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Nf5. Now here black has a better position of 57% to whites 39%, this is why playing 5.c3 is a bad move for white, they should instead play dxc5.
Now with 4.dxc5 black will continue with Nc6, and like last time it is 5.Nf3 Bg4, however this time white can play 5.Bb5, black will play e6 and here white protects there pawn with 7.b4 Ne7, white should now play 8.Nbd2 Ng6 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Nxf3 Be7. Here white has a heavy advantage of 67% win rate to blacks 28%!
And another popular move for white after the move 3...c5 from black is the move 4.Nf3, however this quickly transposes into the 4.c3 line, with the only difference being a different move order, so I wont spend time looking at this line.
I hope you enjoyed this blog, I am planning on making a part two with even more variations very soon so if you want to see it make sure to follow me @NoahdeAlwis .
