Caro-kann Defence

[Event "alaeddinchangiz vs. IM_Zindabad_2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025-06-06"] [White "alaeddinchangiz"] [Black "IM_Zindabad_2"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1224"] [BlackElo "1199"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [Termination "alaeddinchangiz won by checkmate"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. d4 e6 5. Bd3 Ne7 6. Nc3 c5 7. Bg5 Bxd3 8. cxd3 cxd4 9. Nxd4 h6 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Bg7 12. O-O Ng6 13. Re1 Nd7 14. Nf3 Qc7 15. d4 Qb6 16. Qe2 Nf4 17. Bxf4 gxf4 18. Rac1 Rg8 19. Qd2 Rc8 20. Na4 Qa6 21. Rxc8+ Ke7 22. Rd8 Rxd8 23. Nc3 f6 24. Qxf4 fxe5 25. Nxe5 Nxe5 26. dxe5 d4 27. Ne4 Qxa2 28. Rc1 Qxb2 29. Rc7+ Rd7 30. Qh4+ Ke8 31. Rc8+ Kf7 32. Qf4+ Kg6 33. Qg4+ Kh7 34. Nf6+ Bxf6 35. Qg8# 1-0

Check out this #chess game: tcflorea vs IM_Zindabad_2 - https://www.chess.com/live/game/139279958478

[Event "tcflorea vs. IM_Zindabad_2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025-06-06"] [White "tcflorea"] [Black "IM_Zindabad_2"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1187"] [BlackElo "1191"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [Termination "tcflorea won by resignation"] 1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bg4 6. O-O e5 7. d4 e4 8. Be2 exf3 9. Bxf3 Bxf3 10. Qxf3 Nf6 11. Bg5 Nxd4 12. Rfe1+ Be7 13. Qd3 Nc6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nxd5 Ne5 16. Qb5+ Qd7 17. Nc7+ Kd8 18. Qxd7+ Kxd7 19. Nxa8 Rxa8 20. Rad1+ Ke6 21. a3 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Bxd8 23. g3 Kf5 24. Kg2 Bb6 25. f4 Ng4 26. h3 Ne3+ 27. Kf3 Nxc2 28. Re7 Nd4+ 29. Kg2 Kg6 30. Rxb7 Nc2 31. g4 Ne3+ 32. Kf3 Nd5 33. Rd7 Nc7 34. f5+ Kg7 35. a4 Ne8 36. b4 Kf8 37. a5 Bg1 38. Rd1 Bh2 39. b5 Nd6 40. b6 axb6 41. axb6 Ke7 42. Rc1 Nb5 43. b7 Nd4+ 44. Ke4 Nb5 45. Kd5 Nc7+ 46. Kc6 Na6 47. Ra1 Nb4+ 48. Kb5 Nc2 49. Ra8 Nd4+ 50. Ka6 Nc6 51. Kb6 Nd4 52. b8=Q Bxb8 53. Rxb8 Nb3 54. Kc6 Nd4+ 55. Kd5 Nf3 56. Rb3 Ng5 57. Rd3 h6 58. Kd4 Nh7 59. Re3+ Kf8 60. Ke4 Kg7 61. Kf4 Ng5 62. h4 Nh7 63. Re7 Kf8 64. Ra7 Kg7 65. Ra8 Nf8 66. Ra7 Nh7 67. Rb7 Kf8 68. g5 hxg5+ 69. hxg5 fxg5+ 70. Kg4 Kg7 71. Kh5 Kf6 72. Rb5 Nf8 73. Kg4 Nh7 74. Rb6+ Kg7 75. Rc6 f6 76. Rc7+ Kg8 77. Kh5 Nf8 78. Kh6 Nh7 79. Rxh7 Kf8 80. Ra7 g4 81. Kg6 g3 82. Kxf6 Ke8 83. Ke6 Kd8 84. Rg7 g2 85. Rxg2 Kc8 86. Rg7 1-0

That game was lost to a blunder. You were doing fine until you played g7-g5 chasing his Bishop back. Why are you moving Pawns on the side of the board where your opponent has more space and better control of the open lines? Isn't that rather suicidal? Surely Qb6 immediately was better.

I was trying to create counterplay on the king side when I played g7-g5. And I played Qc7 to attack e5 pawn. What strategy should I follow in Caro-Kann.

Neither of these games was lost in the opening. If you had found 13...Ne6 in the second game it would have been like -4.

I will say though, 6...e5 in the second game is a bad move, and in the Caro-Kann you are very, very rarely looking to play e5. The reason is that it is usually too weakening to the d5 pawn. Usually you end up with pawns on d5 and e6.

Also re the first game, I tend to advocate going for a quick ...c5 and putting the bishop on g4 against the Advance rather than Bf5. Against this weird pseudo-Advance line I'd just play 3...Bg4, 3...c5 would also be fine. There is nothing wrong with 3...Bf5 either, but you have to know what you're doing. When White puts the bishop on d3 in the Bf5 lines you pretty much always just trade straightaway. I think you get better results at amateur level putting it on g4 to take care of the f3 knight and then pressuring d4 with moves like c5, Qb6, Ne7 to f5, etc.

The engine does not hate 5...Ne7, but I think things went off the rails at that point, as your position becomes difficult to play.

Thank you so much for your help. Also I looked at direct c5 against advance variation, I think it's called botvinik Carl's. I couldn't decide whether to play mainline or c5 right away.

Which would you recommend against classical variation. Mainline(Bf5) or Tartakower.

Chessbrah Eric did a Caro Kann vs everything speedrun. It might help with opening ideas and understanding.

Create your counterplay on the side of the board where you have the ADVANTAGE.

Why in the world would you want to open things up and create complications on the side of the board where your opponent holds all the high cards?

That's one of the reasons that I play the Sicilian as Black against 1. e4 and the King's Indian Panno against 1. d4. In both cases, White has a space advantage on the King's side, while Black has a space advantage on the Queen's side. It has the drawback that I am using my King as a matador's cloak to keep my opponent occupied on one side of the board, but I have clear and straightforward counterplay on the Queen's side.

Playing this way will certainly improve your defensive technique.

But the main point is to seek counterplay on the part of the board where you have the advantage, not in randomly chosen locations.

I could show you a sample game or two if you are interested.

Normally, When you play c5, It means you plan on playing on Center + Queen side + castling King Side!

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When you play f6, It means you plan on playing on Center + King side + Castling King side

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h6 + g5 with an idea to play on King side is possible, but you often will castle Queen side and you often don’t want to play moves like c5 when you do it. you want everything closed!

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When you do pawn trades, You open up Files for your Rook!

Rooks are very powerful chess pieces and when you attack the enemy you want your Rook open!

In the above game, Look at your 8th move, you trade which is a good move.

However, The move also means your C File is open which is good for your Rook, but bad for your King!

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When you castle, you want pawns in front of your King. You want things closed.

When you attack, you want pawns traded so your Rooks are not attacking your own pawns. You want things open.

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In this game, you were doing very good.

You should have castled King side!

You should have attacked Center + Queen side!

I think ...c5 is much better under 2000, it's what I used to play. You want to play the 4...e6 line against 4. dxc5, but most people will play 4. c3 and you get a very good game against this. You can develop a lot of pressure against d4 and a ton of the time people will either just lose the pawn or get themselves into a situation where they have to meet ...Bxf3 with gxf3 as they need the queen to defend d4.

At your rating I actually like the Karpov Variation, which is 4...Nd7 with the idea of being able to play Ngf6 and not get doubled pawns. At a high level the top reply to this is the weird looking 5. Ng5 and there's a bunch of theory, but you will pretty much never see this at your rating.
You have to watch out for the trap 5. Qe2 Ngf6?? 6. Nd6#. You just play Ndf6 instead if they play Qe2.
I used to play the Tartakower when I played the Caro but it was one of my least favorite things to play. The Classical is a fine option, there's lots of theory but it probably isn't necessary to know it at your rating.

Blueemu you said you can show me some sample games. so can you provide any?

[Event "PaulRalte vs. IM_Zindabad_2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025-06-17"] [White "PaulRalte"] [Black "IM_Zindabad_2"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "983"] [BlackElo "1214"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [Termination "IM_Zindabad_2 won on time"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng5 h6 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Nf3 c5 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. O-O cxd4 10. Re1 e6 11. c3 dxc3 12. bxc3 Be7 13. Qc2 Rf8 14. Be3 Nd5 15. Rad1 Nxe3 16. Rxe3 Bd7 17. Bh7 Bf6 18. Qg6+ Ke7 19. Nd2 Be8 20. Qg4 Ne5 21. Qb4+ Kf7 22. f4 Ng4 23. Rf3 b6 0-1

I know I made a blunder at the last move but luckily my opponent ran out of time.

[Event "Ng00511157 vs. IM_Zindabad_2"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2025-06-28"] [White "Ng00511157"] [Black "IM_Zindabad_2"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1214"] [BlackElo "1246"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [Termination "IM_Zindabad_2 won by checkmate"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Nxf6+ exf6 6. Ne2 Bd6 7. Ng3 O-O 8. Bd3 Re8+ 9. Be2 Nd7 10. O-O Nf8 11. Bd3 Ng6 12. c3 Qb6 13. Qc2 Be6 14. Be3 Qc7 15. Rfe1 Rad8 16. Ne4 Bxh2+ 17. Kh1 Rd5 18. g3 Rh5 19. Be2 Rh3 20. Kg2 Bxg3 21. Nxg3 Nh4+ 22. Kg1 Rxg3+ 23. fxg3 Qxg3+ 24. Kf1 Qg2# 0-1

Botvinnik-Carls is the way. Gotta love the French structure.