Karpov and the Caro-Kann

Did Anatoly Karpov have good success with the Caro-Kann as black's defense?  (reason i ask, is that some guy said he didn't. . . said it wasn't that good a defense. . . yet i think, hey, this was Karpov!)    

Very much so:)

per chessgames.com, with caro kann as black, karpov's record was 78 wins, 62 losses, 133 draws.  a very good track record when you consider all the games were with the black pieces.

Another reviewer said it is hard for black to get an advantage and that it is boring, that you'd spend a LOT of time in a dull endgame. 

Sounds tailor made for Karpov to kick ass with, then.  What's the hubbub?

There's more to the Caro-Kann than meets the eye.......it's bit of a ninja opening, where you sneak up on your opponent, while he's looking the other way.

Tal once said, that if he absolutely had to win with black, he would play the Caro-Kann. After all, it is easier to play for a win from a solid position.....

Karpov and (insert opening here) - odds are Karpov had a stonking record with it.

Thanks Hilarious and PawnLuft.  

AND almost all of them were against the elite players in the world. Remember, a LOT of the Caros were against Kasparov.

The Caro Kann is as rock solid as you can get. Thats why it has been adopted as a MAIN defence by many of the best in history as their weapon of choice when the games really, really matter.

Playing the Caro Kann as Black should be in everyone's repertoire, at least for awhile.  It's a great opening, and always will be.  It has stood the test of time.  As I recall, Seirawan was fond of it too.  I love some of the variations, including the Bronstein-Larsen.

For awhile I loved playing that as Black, but lately I've switched back over to the French Defense, which I like too.

Karpov was (and still is) so strong, he could have played just about anything as Black, and achieved similar results. 

Is it hard to learn to play?

Not any harder to learn than any other opening, in my opinion.

Heh, right, Karpov could have done great with any opening defense.  i was just wondering is it reasonable for a 1600 player or just for 2500+ players.

    Funny, I had narrowed down to either the Caro-Kann or the French Def.  

Caro_Kann is a great opening, but requires patience...

I have a database of several million games and I pulled all of Karpov's games where he played the Caro-Kann.  The results are almost identical to what kponds indicated above:  276 total games, with a record of 82 wins, 58 losses and 136 draws.

Whoa, 136 draws - so very close to 50% draws.  That says a lot, backing up what Hicetununc said, requires patience. (translation perhaps that it IS a dull endgame?)   Think i'll go with the French. 

On another note, millions of games database?  Phew!!  

At the highest levels of chess, a 50% draw ratio with the black pieces is very good.  A draw is an above-average result for black, and the average draw rate at super-GM level is about 33% I think.

Korchnoi, a master of the french defense, played it to 146-77-180 in chessgames database.  But, I haven't done any analysis as to the average strength of Korchoi vs Karpovs opponents (Korchnoi may have a lot of games vs simul or club-level opponents), so the results should not be compared.

I think it's probably true that the french holds more of a chance for a win than the caro, while it starts out quiet, the games can just explode.  If this is what you're looking for, the french is a good pick.  For me, I prefer the Caro.

Definitely. There's a reason why KARPOV(indisputable top 5 of all time), of all people, played it and stuck with it. If you look at his chessgames.com profile, you'll see that it's his almost only opening against 1. e4 as black throughout his entire career. He had a lot of draws(he had a lot of draws full stop tho) with it but also many wins and less losses. So yeah his track record was definitely great. Anyone who tells you the caro kann is bad just because hikaru says it's a trash opening better stop listening to just one GM and listen to karpov, firouzja, caruana, botvinnik, petrosian, spassky, and every other world champion and all time great who's used the caro kann in very, very, very, very, very important games.

Early on, Karpov played the Taimanov Sicilian against 1. e4 quite a bit, and was a 1. e4, e5 player too. The K-K matches have quite a few games in which Karpov defended the Petrov and Ruy Lopez; hence there being a "Karpov-Zaitsev" defence to the latter. When he won the World Junior Championship he even defended against a King's Gambit Hanstein variation. But he seemed to settle on the 4..., Nd7 Caro-Kann in the end. And his results with it were stunningly good.