Caro-Kann advance variation as black

I smell some nonsense cooking around 👃 🤔.

In reality, Caro Kann is fine and Bf5 and c5 are both good options really. Feel free to switch to an early c5.

Can you please post an example on how your knight gets pinned or how your bishop gets attacked? Thanks 🙏

The best way to learn the Advance Caro-Kann, in my opinion, is to start with the 5...c5 lines, like so:

Black gets his bishop "outside" the central pawn chain, then plays his thematic ...c5 break.

An example line:

Here, Black wants to continue his kingside development with ...Ne7. But the c5 pawn is currently in tension with White's d4 pawn. If Black plays ...Ne7 now, White can play dxc5, winning a pawn. Black will have to spend the next few moves trying to win it back (if possible).

So it's easier to exchange here, and continue developing, like so:

Here, we have an example of a White player who wants to harrass and win Black's light-square bishop (since this is a problem that you mentioned in this thread).

Black could simply retreat the bishop to g6. Then, if White captures, it opens a nice attacking file for Black's rook:

In this case, Black could consider arranging a future an attack on White's kingside.

But Black actually has a stronger idea in that position:

Hitting White's weak d4 pawn! Now White realizes that his knight maneuver was misguided, and will have to retreat to defend the important d-pawn - the supporting base of White's central pawn chain.

But Black's attack on the pawn is too well-developed to be stopped:

Attacking the defender of the d4 pawn.

Now the d4 pawn will fall.

And Black is up a pawn in a comfortable endgame. With basic technique, this game should be already won for Black.

5...c5 isn't the only way to play the Caro-Kann ... but it's a thematic, principled approach and one that I believe should serve well as an introduction to the 3...Bf5 Advance.

Also, not all the 5...c5 lines are as straightforward as the example I listed above. Some can get rather tricky. But that's chess for you - you learn as you go, until eventually all the difficult lines become easy.