Which is more aggressive, the French Defense or Caro Kann...?!

Petroff 😎

The French Defense is the most passive defense, so of course the Caro-Kann is the more aggressive defense. French Defense players are in for 80-move long positional games. 

I've never seen a french defense go that long. However, I do know that caro kann is more likely to go to 100 move games than the french.

Caro has gone 197 moves. French 186. If it sounds like French is more aggressive, wait...

Caro has more shorter games than French. French has 2 of 2 moves, and 2 of 3 moves.

Caro only has 1 of 2 moves, yet 6 of 3 moves. 4 moves? 19 caro-kann 18 French.

Here Gaiwan Jones wins in 5 moves with Caro..

How did he win

Isnt it the aggressive queen attack that white feared and resigned?

Its not like players would throw a game?

omg this iconic queen attack I was reminded of a miniature between two GMs

white saw that Qh5 forces mate in 15 moves and so didn't bother to play it out

Its that thrillerfan magic I tell you!...you dont want to play thrillerfan French defense.

In that case, french wins hands down...its all in the way its done. Its the emphatic slam of the bishop b4.  You dont want to be timid. Throw the swagger on the board and intimidate. The silent trash talk of aggression.

I'd be shocked if the French were not the more aggressive. If I wanted to know for sure I'd check which one has the lower draw rate in master games.

Thanks for all the input, guys. I also had a feeling the French was more aggressive. When I play as white I've always been more annoyed playing against the Caro because it seems more solid.

indeed. Totally agree that the French is more aggressive. With the e6 pawn as a permanent target, you have to play actively to compensate for that slight weakness. And no, the Sicilian isn't "aggressive" as an Opening. It's counter-acting (as opposed to counter-attacking). As it is, the French is more "wild" vs the CK.

The French has a lot of sharp positions... but maybe not always in the direction you want  (white often has dangerous attacks)

Playing the caro for a win is fine, at least at my / our level... look over some Karpov games in the caro to understand typical ways to win some of the endgame that come up.

 I believe that 1.e4 1...e6 The French Defense

I like french better for attacking as with the caro-kann it is sometimes the same but only with the c pawn on c3, instead of c4. Moving it there to pressurise the center just wastes a tempo. That tempo could've been used for devolping, making the time to attack closer.

French I think

e5