How to Beat the Caro-Kann Hillbilly Attack

The Caro-Kann Hillbilly Attack has become famous lately, thanks to some YouTube personalities showing videos in the line. The catchy name and aggressive kingside attack make this an exciting option for 1.e4 players. We will strike back with an early 3...a5 pawn push. Stockfish approves of this move, and it gives us an easy way to neutralize the Hillbilly Attack while keeping a clear advantage. Playing the most practical move is often advantageous to playing the suggested engine move.

Jesse and I fire up a chess.com classroom board and go through the Some Dumb Trucker Defense (3...a5) in detail for this video on YouTube. With enough players using this defense, I expect to see the Hillbilly Attack start to fall in popularity!

Let me know in the comments what you think of this defense!