The Caro-Kann Defense
Below you'll find in puzzle-format all of the MCO variations for the Caro-Kann Defense. For the sake of being thorough every MCO line is included. Don't be overwhelmed. By no means should all of these variations be memorized, nor do I plan to do so. I've created this as a document for all Caro-Kann players who, like me, wish to be succesful advocates of the Devil's Opening.
If you're familiar with the Caro-Kann Defense, I'm looking for someone to help annotate these variations. While I can annotate things like "White develops with a mate threat on f7," the intricacies of a rook sacrifice or why in some variations we shut in our Caro-Kann bishop are something beyond my level. You can either message me annotations or comment below, just be certain that you identify the name of the variation and the line in it. I'm especially interested in any trap lines that may exist or common opening attacks. For example, in the Caro-Kann because both Black and White play early d-pawn moves cheeky checks from the queen-side can become especially potent. Qb6 attacking a trapped rook is also an important threat to develop with tempo when White's dark-square bishop pins an e7-knight with dreams of f5. Most important, though, is that we get written down what Black's and White's plans may be and strategies for counterplay. One idea I have for this is to round robin lines between the engines I currently have access to (Toga, Stockfish, and Phalanx).
With time I may include the variations footnoted in MCO, but for now I would be happy just to finish off the post! If you're interested in joining me in a similar project for 1.d4, please get in contact and we can divide up the work. My interest for now lies in developing a full repertoire first and exploring lines intimately after.
The second variation has been mis-printed,
unless there's some special move unknown to me
that allows an f8 bishop to hop pawns and get to f4!
