You don't have to play a tartakower in the Caro kann as black if you don't want to. Just play Bf5 and go into the classical mainline. The Caro kann is very solid and useful at all levels of play.
Best response to 1.e4?
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Jun 12, 2023
0
#3
chessterd5 wrote:
You don't have to play a tartakower in the Caro kann as black if you don't want to. Just play Bf5 and go into the classical mainline. The Caro kann is very solid and useful at all levels of play.
And a third option aside from the Tartakower and the main line is the Smyslov (4...Nd7).
You have plenty of options, just like you do in the Sicilian, French, and 1...e5.
The Caro-Kann, the French, and the Sicilian are all great choices. You can't go wrong with any of these.
Although I didn't see you mention 1...e5, which should also be a top choice to consider.
People dont really know how to play against French sicilian, so its always c5 and e3 for me
Jun 12, 2023
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#8
IronSteam1 wrote:
The Caro-Kann, the French, and the Sicilian are all great choices. You can't go wrong with any of these.
Although I didn't see you mention 1...e5, which should also be a top choice to consider.
1..e5 is a decent choice but not what I would prefer as games are likely to transpose to a Giouco Piano game (not what I would like to play on a daily basis). Thanks to all for their respective suggestions.
Medusa_Stan wrote:
IronSteam1 wrote:
The Caro-Kann, the French, and the Sicilian are all great choices. You can't go wrong with any of these.
Although I didn't see you mention 1...e5, which should also be a top choice to consider.
1..e5 is a decent choice but not what I would prefer as games are likely to transpose to a Giouco Piano game (not what I would like to play on a daily basis). Thanks to all for their respective suggestions.
You don't have to play into the Giuoco Piano, if you don't want to.
For example:
And we've got an interesting, imbalanced game.
(Black doesn't have to play ...Bc5 and adopt symmetry, is what I'm saying.)
Your call, though. 
Jun 12, 2023
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#10
IronSteam1 wrote:
Medusa_Stan wrote:
IronSteam1 wrote:
The Caro-Kann, the French, and the Sicilian are all great choices. You can't go wrong with any of these.
Although I didn't see you mention 1...e5, which should also be a top choice to consider.
1..e5 is a decent choice but not what I would prefer as games are likely to transpose to a Giouco Piano game (not what I would like to play on a daily basis). Thanks to all for their respective suggestions.
You don't have to play into the Qiuoco Piano, if you don't want to.
For example:
And we've got an interesting, imbalanced game.
(Black doesn't have to play ...Bc5 and adopt symmetry, is what I'm saying.)
Your call, though.
Fianchettoing the dark square Bishop and in a way implementing a KID/Pirc style setup seems really promising. I mostly fianchetto the bishop in my games so this is a familiar idea to me and it really leads to some interesting positions in my rating range. Thanks for your suggestion.
Jun 12, 2023
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#11
The Caro-kann, French, Sicilian, and 1...e5 are the best choices, and between those it really just depends on which one you like most. I've been playing 1...e5 and going into a Petroff with 2...Nf6, but if you don't like 1...e5 then the other three are all just as good.
It greatly depends on the situation. If you're playing black, and need to win, and the white player doesn't, the French might be a problem. Not insurmountable, but far from ideal. The French can be a decent everyday weapon, but if you need to win and your opponent doesn't ......
Feb 22, 2025
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#13
1...e5 is my favorite, but 1...e6 (French), 1...c6 (Caro-Kann), or 1...c5 (Sicilian Defense) are also good. Just make sure you know how to play these openings.
Feb 22, 2025
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#14
The fantasy is good against the caro,its what Gothamchess recommends in his 1.e4 for white chessable course.
Feb 22, 2025
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#15
The e4/e5 line I like is the petrov.
For the sicilian - you have many options, but I'd recommend a less common one such as Taimanov, Nimzowitsch, Four Knights, Accelerated Dragon, etc.
French - also very good, just boring in alot of cases. Play the Open Tarrasch and the Winawer.
Comparing these 3.... sicilian is gonna be a dynamic game with winning chances for black. Petrov is gonna be a bit more tactical but also somewhat predictable / harder to deviate in (though it's not as drawish as people think in online settings). French... it depends on the line, many lines are a slog, some like the Winawer are very dynamic, but in general it's good in that white has a hard time deviating, but it's also sloggish.
Those 3 are the best. Caro-Kann... it doesn't really belong in the same category with these 3. It can be ranked 4, but I'm not a fan, white has all the decision making ability, and so many strong choices.
There are some cool lines in the Pirc which don't involve a g6 Fiancetto which I do like. I feel the Fiancetto is too overplayed in the Pirc. But I haven't experimented too much with these lines.
If I was going to play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 I'd play some weird sidelines like the Paris Defense, the Ruy Lopez Fiancetto defense, etc. but I still prefer the Petrov.
Over the past month I have tried numerous openings for black against 1.e4. I experimented with the Scandinavian, Caro-Kann, French Defense and the Sicilian(usually getting games with the Rossolimo or the Bowdler Attack). The Pirc Defense used to be my go to response to 1.e4 but I have discarded it for other solid openings as mentioned above. Recently I settled down with the Caro-Kann but soon enough I discovered that I was getting poor positions from it (mainly because many games transposed to the Tartakower variation and players in my rating range don't play the Advance that much). Which particular opening should I solely focus from now onwards?