No clue. About as mysterious as the Sicilian Najdorf.
... a6 caro kann?
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State the point of a6 and maybe we can understand
I guess it'll have a similar purpose to that of the Najdorf in the Sicilian defense, avoiding a knight from jumping to b5. But in the Najdof it makes more sense, since in most of the lines of the Sicilian, the Queen ends up in c7, and I don't know if it's the same in the Caro-Kann
ok. I went and looked in two of my CaroKann books.
Schandorff does not mention it at all. the usual move is 5...,c5
so, I dug deeper. I found two partial lines in a book published in 1994. with out any explanation.
one was from Yasser Seriwan and the other was a game between Anand and Karpov 1991.
it is definitely a sideline. one characteristic of both games is black does not play c5. And white plays c4. in one game black plays d5xc4. in the other white plays cxd5.
the previous explanations seem reasonable. a6 and b5 are common ideas for black to control the queenside in multiple defenses.
b5 to b4 is a common minority attack in the Caro kann. but a6 included makes my spidy senses go off. I am a fan of c5 for black to bear some influence on the center.
the Queen can go to c7 in the Caro kann and even Qb6 like in the advanced French and the lines get pretty messy.
if white plays c4 and black responds with d5xc4, the position resembles the QGA. particularly if Bxc4, b5, Bb3. but the black bishop is already on f5 instead of going to b7.
Bd3 is only an option for white if he does not mind the exchange of LQBs.
chessterd5 is one of my teammates in either the C-K Cutthroats or the C-K Players (or both!). Anyway, I pretty much swear by Schandorff as well. I checked ChessBase 16's database and found out that after 5...a6, White enjoys a 61.0% score in 116 games (along with 16 transpositions). After the continuation up to 7 Nbd2, White enjoys 59.8% score in 97 games. Not my cup of tea for sure.
Chessflyfisher wrote:
chessterd5 is one of my teammates in either the C-K Cutthroats or the C-K Players (or both!). Anyway, I pretty much swear by Schandorff as well. I checked ChessBase 16's database and found out that after 5...a6, White enjoys a 61.0% score in 116 games (along with 16 transpositions). After the continuation up to 7 Nbd2, White enjoys 59.8% score in 97 games. Not my cup of tea for sure.
hello chessflyfisher,
I am just thinking that Karpov must have had a reason for playing 5...,a6 against Anand instead of Nbd7 which he was famous for.
Maybe Anand had a line prepared against him in the Nbd7 variation.
Maybe Karpov was playing out something psychological by playing a6 to get a QGA type position against Anand because Anand liked to play it as black.
The Caro-Kann is such a passive, closed defense that while Black really oughtn’t to survive such a terrible space and activity disadvantage, the spike formation and mental advantage of White players often getting impatient mean this is likely playable even at top level.
That being said, I much prefer the 2… Na6 sideline (De Bruycker variation) as an offbeat sideline to this ultra-passive nonsense.
Ethan_Brollier wrote:
The Caro-Kann is such a passive, closed defense that while Black really oughtn’t to survive such a terrible space and activity disadvantage, the spike formation and mental advantage of White players often getting impatient mean this is likely playable even at top level.
That being said, I much prefer the 2… Na6 sideline (De Bruycker variation) as an offbeat sideline to this ultra-passive nonsense.
I assume that you are either a Sicilian, Scandinavian, Petroff fan or even willing to be on the Black side of a Ruy Lopez. You probably dislike the French as well. As far as "offbeat" lines go, I've experimented with the Kavalek line: 1 e4, c6; 2 d4, d5; 3 e5, Na6 with mixed results.
Chessflyfisher wrote:
Ethan_Brollier wrote:
The Caro-Kann is such a passive, closed defense that while Black really oughtn’t to survive such a terrible space and activity disadvantage, the spike formation and mental advantage of White players often getting impatient mean this is likely playable even at top level.
That being said, I much prefer the 2… Na6 sideline (De Bruycker variation) as an offbeat sideline to this ultra-passive nonsense.
I assume that you are either a Sicilian, Scandinavian, Petroff fan or even willing to be on the Black side of a Ruy Lopez. You probably dislike the French as well. As far as "offbeat" lines go, I've experimented with the Kavalek line: 1 e4, c6; 2 d4, d5; 3 e5, Na6 with mixed results.
Mostly correct. I actually tend to enjoy the French, I just can’t be bothered to play the Exchange as Black in blitz constantly. I’m also not quite a Petroff fan, but that may just be for lack of trying.
The Kavalek sounds interesting, as it allows you to play traditionally against any non-Advance Caro-Kann. I might have to try it out.
This is a type of sideline which are becoming more common in modern courses. These provide you with a way to get out of theory early on and just play a game of chess even if you are slightly worse.
What is the purpose of a6? I have heard a couple people talk about this.