The Caro-Kann Defense

I started playing the Sicilian Defense many years ago, probably because my father introduced me to it as a kid. I'm also fond of the Queen's Gambit, so playing a c pawn early to the fourth rank always seemed natural. But the Sicilian can be a sharp opening, and I frequently ran into tactical trouble.

In 2016, in an OTB game against a ten-year-old, I was playing black. After my opponent opened with 1.e4, I immediately grabbed my c pawn, then shifted out of phase with the universe, was translated through another dimension, rotated through 180º and back into myself to find somehow the pawn lay on c6, not c5. I begin to explain to the stern child that I played the Sicilian and somehow just put my pawn on the wrong square on the first move. Menacingly, he reminded me of the Touch-Move rule and insisted that a pawn laid was a pawn played. Resigned, I just tried to work out a good plan for an opening I had never played before. I won the game, and later a coach opined that I had played the Caro-Kann much better than the Sicilian, which I'd been working on improving for months, and that maybe I ought to think about changing my repertoire.

This was a sea change in my chess game. I love playing black now, because 1.e4 is the first move in more than 50% of all chess games, so I play this opening in 25-30% of all my games. The Caro-Kann is a solid, intuitive opening that generally results in better pawn structure for black and favorable endgames. Perhaps in common with hypermodern openings like the Nimzo-Indian Defense, by not pushing the pawn to c5 immediately, it doesn't become a target right away. In most lines, your plans remain the same. Move order may vary in a logical way, for example, playing Ng8-e7-f5 in the Advance Variation before Be7 to avoid blocking the knight (though in plenty of cases, Ng8-h7-f5 is also possible).

Main Line

The main line of the Caro-Kann begins 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5. This is the first intuitive idea: Get the blasted light-square bishop out before playing e6. In some lines of the Advance Variation you play e6 quickly and block the bishop on c8, but you get compensation with a strong attack on e5 and c5, likely winning a pawn. And moves like Bb7 and Bd7 are still playable.

The main line continues with the knight under attack on e4. White is obliged to move or defend the knight. A retreat to c3 is safe, but then white has moved the knight twice in the opening, and black gains an edge in development. The normal continuation attacks the bishop in turn, but leaves the white knight on a square that isn't best. 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6. The purpose of 6.h4 is to provoke black to play h6, producing a permanent weakness. 7.Nf3 Nd7. It's important to play Nd7 right away to keep the white knight off of e5. While this is a bit of a passive square for the black knight, it will eventually help black push the pawn from c6 to c5. 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3. The black pawn is now locked on h6, but the white pawn on h5 is also a target, and white is obligated to defend it. The black bishop on h7 is sufficiently annoying that white gladly trades their "good" bishop right away. 9...Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6.

From here, white will develop the dark-square bishop to d2 or f4. White often castles long in this line. Black's plans include Ngf6, Bd6 (or the more passive Be7 in some cases), Qc7 or Qb6 and eventually c6-c5.

Advance Variation

One of the more popular lines for white is the Advance Variation, beginning with 3.e5. This often changes black's plans considerably. One easy enough continuation for black is 3...Bf5 4.Bd3 Bxd3 5.Qxd3 e6 6.Nf3 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Qa6. Now that white has committed the knight to f3, they have a choice between trading queens or having some trouble castling after trading the light-square bishop. 8.Qxa6 Nxa6. Now black has a favorable endgame with a better bishop than the white one (in light of the pawn structure). Black will soon play c6-c5 and likely recapture with the knight on a6.

A sharper and more aggressive (if less intuitive) defense is 3...c5, directly attacking the pawn on d4, trying to provoke multiple weak pawns that white will have to defend. Black will pound at them, tying up white's position until something breaks, e.g. 4.dxc5 e6 5.Be3 Nh6 6.Bxh6 gxh6. The doubled h pawn is defended by a bishop and hard to attack immediately. More importantly, it opens the long a1-h8 diagonal for the bishop.

Tartakower/Fantasy Variation

Instead of developing the knight to c3 right away, white may elect to defend the e pawn and open the f file for attack. 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 Bg4.

Jovanka Houska's book Play the Caro-Kann (Everyman Chess, 2007) is an excellent matter-of-fact tour of Caro-Kann lines. Much of the material here originates from that book.