Caro-Kann Study Group (1.e4 c6)

mig3017 wrote:

hi,

    any help in the caro kann Classicsl after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Bg6 6.Nf3 ...   what is the best move/lines for Black on move ...6 ?

I think I know what you're referring to. After 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3, I've tried ...e6.

 After 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3,..6 and what if 7.Nh4 or Ne5 with the intention to capture the Bishop as Black players will always like to preserve the Black Bishop

black is fine because it takes many moves to play Nf3 Nh4 Nxg6 just for the bishop pair.  just develop normally.  Be7/d6 0-0/0-0-0, c5 break later

Yeah, Black is fine in those lines.

I will give you a tip which might help you since you are a beginner in this line.

The tip I am going to give you is sort of like a guideline. When you gain more experince with this line. You will than be able to ignore this guideline tip. However, until that day comes my advice is just to give it a shot.

The tip is:

• When your opponent plays Nf3 you usually want to respond with the move Nd7. The reason why is because you want to stop the knight on f3 from getting to e5. If it goes to e5 you want to be able to take it with your knight on d7.

The tip I just gave you above is critical in some variations of the Caro-Kann like you can get in trouble if you forget to play Nd7. In other positions is not the very best move yet its playable one.

In the below diagram I will give you an example of Nd7 not being the very best move.

The reason the move e6 is slightly better in that position is because your opponent didn't move there H pawn. In the Classical variation of the Caro-Kann they will move it forward to try and hit the Light square Bishop.

• If you take with my tip you will at least play a good move not the best but again its very nice tip to remember answer Nf3 with Nd7.

In the above diagram you can see there is a difference with the H pawn being moved. In this position you want to stop the Ne5 move so you have to play Nd7 here. If you play e6 here out of confusion than you will be in trouble. Ne5 is a very good move by white and its really annoying.

Its a very subtle difference which might be hard to understand if your a beginner. The simplest answer would be. The reason you want to stop Ne5 in this position instead of other position is because your H pawn has moved.

That is why black players play e6 there. In that position instead of the other one.

Thnx Mr X-Player But where will i go from the caro kann ? i need another opening apart from the caro kann to surprise my opponent

What I am saying is not wrong.

I am going to give you a metaphor on what you are doing right now.

Lets say this position had a mate in 4 and a mate in 6. If a person was to play either continuation they would be doing very good. Since both lines are good. However, the mate in 4 continuation would be considered the more precise way of dealing with the position. If you was to do the mate in 6 you would still do great. However, people would agrue you made an inaccuracy because you had a more precise continuation.

The move 6...e6 is the more precise continuation here. Title players play 6...e6 more than 6...Nd7. They simply believe it is more precise.

That does not mean 6...Nd7 is a bad move. Its a very good move as well. It is just not considered the most precise move in the position.

Mig3017 is a beginner to this line. I gave them the tip of playing 6...Nd7 against Nf3.

When white plays Nf3 they might have idea to go to e5. So black plays Nd7 to hit the e5 square so if the knight goes there you can take it. Its a very simple tip.

This tip will help them in alot of Caro-Kann variations. They will also avoid alot of headaches and problems. 

I don't think I understand your question?

You don't have to go any where. Grand Masters play the Caro-Kann. It is very solid. Extremely tough to crack.

If you want to surprise your opponent than beat them with the Caro-Kann and make them lose points. They will be hugely surprised.

hi 

        What i mean by where will go from here (Caro Kann). Let me try to explained. I want to play the 1.d4 opening or want to be a d4 player. And would like to play the Nimzo Indian  and Queen Indian as Black. Is Caro Kann related to any indian defense or to the d4 openings ?

                                                   Thnx 

Caro-Kann is played against 1.e4

A line very similar but not exactly the same is the Slav Defense which is played against 1.d4

They are both different openings you will have to learn. However, they have same pawn structure most times.

hi

             its seems m in-love with Caro Kann and with your suggestion of playing the ... e6 instead of Nd7 and why ... e6 is more suggested than ... Nd7 .Can u please prescribe me some books dealing with this line and with the Caro Kann as a whole. Do add me in this Caro Kann group as a member.

                                              Thnx

Another Alternative option you have is:

• If your opponent plays 1.e4

you can just play the Caro-Kann

• If your opponent plays 1.d4

you can just play the Nimzo Indian and Queen Indian

I give you an example of what I play.

• If my opponent plays 1.e4

I play the Caro-Kann or Sicilian Defense

• If my opponent plays 1.d4

I play the Kings Indian Defense, Clarendon Court, or Gruenfeld

• If my opponent plays 1.c4

I play the Kings Indian Defense

• If my opponent plays 1.Nf3

I play the Gruenfeld

Gilasaurus - Who ever you are , you may be a positional or a tactical or you may be a 3000 or a 5000 rated player above Fritz,Komodo, Anand or Magnus Carlsen's rating, this is the Caro Kann group lets talk  about the Caro Kann. Not some anti Sicilian, the Scheveningen Najdorf style,Taimanov or any.  Caro Kann matters in here.

I just use the Chess Mentor thingo for Caro-Kann as white. I don't play the Caro-Kann as black.

wow.  that chessmentor lesson did not even mention that Bxf5 Nxf5 Qa5+ wins a pawn.

@ Roofslovepizza

I believe 5...Qc7 is the best move for black in that position. In human databases black does pretty good with that move.

I on the other hand like playing 5...g6 which I consider to be the second best move in that position.

@ ilikecapablanca

White has a few reasons on why they play the move 6.h4 here.

• One reason they play the move 6.h4 is so they can trap blacks light square bishop.

As you can see if black plays a dumb move here. White will than play 7.h5 and the light square bishop has no were to go. It is literally trapped. Which is usually why black is forced to respond to 6.h4 with the move 6...h6. Giving the bishop an escape square on h7.

• Another reason is white usually trys to gain space on the king side.

The reason they try and gain space on the king side is because they usually attack on the king side. This is partly do to the knight maneuvers which they played Nc3 - Nxe4 - Ng3. In a sense they are attacking where alot of there pieces will be. Which makes perfect sense. Attack on the area of the board you have the most pieces and most space. So by playing h4 they gain space and they will have more pieces on that side for attacks.

Now if we look at the move 6.f4 here notice the difference.

One thing we can notice is white is threating the move 7.f5 trapping the bishop. Which black has to respond to do.

However, Do you see the difference between 6.f4 (7.f5) and 6.h4 (7.h5)?

When white plays 6.h4 with the threat of 7.h5. Black really only has 1 safing bishop response to stop that. Which is (6...h6)

However, with the move 6.f4 with the threat of 7.f5. Black has 2 responses to safe the bishop. Do you see them?

6...h6 is one move. The other move is 6...e6.

6...e6 is how black should respond to 6...f4.

Which it might seem like a very dumb or subtle difference. However, Black is playing the Caro-Kann. They try to crush people because of subtle differences.

When you really think about it. 6.h4 forces black to play the move 6...h6 which doesn't really help black a whole lot. It doesn't really active any of blacks pieces it is just an escaping square.

When you play 6.f4 on the other hand. The response 6...e6 stops the f5 threat and at the same time develops a piece. Blacks dark square bishop is now active.

A small victory for black I would say.

Here's a recent carokann game I had last night, I was black against 2300 in a nonrated long game.

This is just from memory, can't remember the opening perfectly. After move 16 though it's 100% accurate.