I'm not sure which games you looked at for this line. But I'm used to seeing 12. Bd2 Qc7. This allows black to regain control of the b7-h2 diagonal, which will eventually allow black to long castle.
Caro Kann Main Line
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Sep 27, 2019
0
#3
White simply doesn’t have a good move after 12. c3 Ngf6:
(1) Castling either side will lose a pawn.
(2) 13. b4 is a premature expansion that weakens the light squares. Black can reach a favorable endgame after 13... Qb5! 14. Qxb5 (white can’t avoid this queen trade due to ...a5) cxb5.
(3) 13. Ne5 doesn’t pose much problem to black, who has less space and is therefore happy with trades. Personally I would prefer black after 13... Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Be7 15. O-O O-O.
(4) 13. a4 Nd5 15. Bd2 Qc7 is fine for black. White has to make the difficult choice between leaving the black knight on d5 and giving up b4 with c3-c4.
(1) Castling either side will lose a pawn.
(2) 13. b4 is a premature expansion that weakens the light squares. Black can reach a favorable endgame after 13... Qb5! 14. Qxb5 (white can’t avoid this queen trade due to ...a5) cxb5.
(3) 13. Ne5 doesn’t pose much problem to black, who has less space and is therefore happy with trades. Personally I would prefer black after 13... Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Be7 15. O-O O-O.
(4) 13. a4 Nd5 15. Bd2 Qc7 is fine for black. White has to make the difficult choice between leaving the black knight on d5 and giving up b4 with c3-c4.
Sep 27, 2019
0
#4
It has been quite some time since I played the Caro-Kann, and as White, I play the Fantasy Variation, not the main line. So excuse me if the following is wrong or theory has changed.
After 12.Bd2, Black does not normally play 12...Bb4. Usually he regains the b8-h2 diagonal with 12...Qc7 (the whole purpose behind the check - to gain the important diagonal two diagonals away).
When then does not play c3 at all. If memory serves me right, I believe White castles queenside and plays c4. Not sure which comes first or if it matters or not as again, my focus is on the Fantasy as White and the French and Petroff as Black against e4, but I played the Caro-Kann a couple of times for about a year each (2012 and 2016), and I don't ever recall White ever playing c3 at any point in this line.
12...Bb4 (instead of the more usual 12...Qc7) is an interesting, rather fresh idea, which is trying to prove that 11.Bf4 is inaccurate, and white should rather go for the traditional 11.Bd2.
It seems that the idea is mighty good, although a couple of sharp lines should be checked by the class players.
Dragahs wrote:
... white, following the theory, brings the bishop back from a good position to cover the check instead of playing c3 and only plays it after reinforces the attack against the bishop his own one. I dont see any sense in waiting to play c3. ...
"... the queen is well placed on a5 after …" - GM Joe Gallagher (2002)
Apparently, the queen is not-so-well placed after
Dragahs wrote:
... Furthermore white wants to castle queenside and c3 is weakening whites pawn structure so why do you even want to play it at all? There is no danger of white taking after all d2 is sufficiently defended or am I missing something? ...
In a 2017 book, 13 Ne4 is mentioned as an alternative to 13 c3.
PawnstormPossie έγραψε:
pfren wrote:
12...Bb4 (instead of the more usual 12...Qc7) is an interesting, rather fresh idea, which is trying to prove that 11.Bf4 is inaccurate, and white should rather go for the traditional 11.Bd2.
It seems that the idea is mighty good, although a couple of sharp lines should be checked by the class players.
Would you consider playing 17...b5 in the game you posted?
No. The position after 18.c5 does not appeal to me- such moves are good only if white for some reason had to take at b5, or let Black take at c4.
Hey everyone. I've been starting to play the Caro Kann a lot recently and also wanting to improve my openings so I looked at the main line.
In this positions I saw 11. Nf4 followed by 11... Qa5+.
What confuses me in this position is that white, following the theory, brings the bishop back from a good position to cover the check instead of playing c3 and only plays it after reinforces the attack against the bishop his own one. I dont see any sense in waiting to play c3. Furthermore white wants to castle queenside and c3 is weakening whites pawn structure so why do you even want to play it at all? There is no danger of white taking after all d2 is sufficiently defended or am I missing something?
I would appreciate any help to understand this.