IronSteam1 wrote:
Caro players aren't obligated to play c6-c5 in the Advance.
I find that a lot of a French players think that the Caro-Kann still has the same positional goals as the French, just with a differently placed bishop. But that isn't always the case.
My point was to give the simplest and quickest explanation of the main theoretical idea of the opening, which is easiest to do through comparing it to the French. I recognize these different ideas, but I think the way I described it was reasonable for the intent I had.
If you don't like the French, the Caro is an alternative. The difference between the two is that in the Caro-Kann you give up a tempo (since you're playing c6 and then c5 instead of just c5 in one move) in order to get the light squared bishop out instead of trapping it behind e6 like in the French. Personally I would prefer the French of the two.
Caro players aren't obligated to play c6-c5 in the Advance.
I find that a lot of a French players think that the Caro-Kann still has the same positional goals as the French, just with a differently placed bishop. But that isn't always the case.
Sometimes the positional goals overlap. Other times, they are quite different. A lot depends on the player and their choice of lines.
For example, this is one of the main lines against the Advance:
We can see that it varies quite a bit from the usual French Advance.
Here, Black doesn't play for c6-c5. Instead, Black is looking to attack on the kingside, in opposite-color-castling fashion (often by prying open a file with f7-f6).