After 4... Nf6 5. d4 Black has a wonderful knight outpost on e4, the move of the f-pawn means that White can't kick it away with f3.
Caro-Kann thing


For Black, castling kingside is her more obvious option. I’d say it’s best to arrive to a castle via 4...g6, 5...Bg7, 6...Nf6, 7...O-O. Whereas Black will be quite safe, regardless of what happens.
Although the engine slightly prefers Black, I’d take White’s position, mainly because the absence of the e-pawn makes a sort of Reversed Dutch that is a tiny bit speedier, but that’s just my preference.

There are 900+ games with e5 in Chessbase, and only about 200 with exd5. The first grants White about 50% chances to score, while the other lets you with 38% chances to survive the game...
Okay, I looked. Assuming d5 exd cxd, what has w gained? traded a centre pawn for a flank one and it's likely to turn into the exchange variation at some point, which isn't great for white...

It's playable, but it also gives Black a super easy game, as far as development goes.
3.e5 would be a better try for White. But after 3...Bf5, we're in an Advance setup, with White being one move slower, due to his f4 pawn move. (So, again, Black isn't really sweating over anything.)

It's playable, but it also gives Black a super easy game, as far as development goes.
3.e5 would be a better try for White. But after 3...Bf5, we're in an Advance setup, with White being one move slower, due to his f4 pawn move. (So, again, Black isn't really sweating over anything.)
It's kind of depressing, ya' know? I actually tried the ridiculous looking 3.Bd3 in this line (1.e4 c6 2.f4 d5 3.Bd3) trying to keep black's bishop out of f5. The results were too horrible to talk about in mixed company........
What yall think?