Why not play this???!?!?!

Just as I was laying down to go to sleep tonight, contemplating my recent favorite opening selections: grunfeld against d4 and caro against e4, I thought of a line for white against the caro-kann that made me tremble and immediately got me up in order to write this forum topic.

Thoughts on why this isn't played more often or on the opening itself (ideas for black) are appreciated

4...Nf6

Well I wonder why this has scored so poorly for black considering this news . But now that I know what opening line to look for I found that it has 930 plays by black (4...Nf6 variation) as compared to 61 with Qxd5. However, black still only scores 43% according to the shredder database but I can honestly say that after Nf6 I'd rather be playing black.

That's especially true considering these opening % come from grandmasters playing, not a child like myself.

White has an isolated pawn on an open file, with no compensation because Black is a tempo ahead that he can use to move the queen if it is attacked.

Many people seem to mistakenly assume that  as a rule you should try to avoid having an isolated pawn. Chess authors are probably making bit too good work in explaining the weaknesses connected with having an isolated pawn.

Positions with an isolated d-pawn are extremely common in modern tournament practice because they offer good starting points for fight and have pros and cons for both sides. In opening and midlegame isolated d-pawn usually offers just as many advantages as disadvantages so there's no need for any extra compensation.

i prefer the panov attack. has similar open lines and i think better control of the center.

Gambit time : Von Hening!!

I still feel like this opening is better for white in the end. 

@shaakali:

Its so true that people immediately discount the isolated d pawn. many lines in the QGA lead to an isolated d pawn that is usually the brunt of the white attack!

I think I might actually use this opening as white against the caro in a live game when my opponent can't look up any of the resulting lines.

for which side do you play this? To me playing it as black reminds me too much of a Scandinavian defense that we so often see in blitz games on live chess (or is that just me?)

That's what I thought at first before I had tried it. It's just so solid that I can't help but play it. I'm tired of struggling to survive tactically against superior players in a sicilian or French.....

why not just play the dangerous advance variation?

why not play d4 or h3

Nothing wrong with 2 c4 (as has been said a very reasonable way to get out of book), but it isn't a great try for advantage, nor is it anything new. 4...Qxd5?! in my opinion is not so good, when I think white not only has enough for the iso, but probably more than enough and can get a nice initiative. To avoid this loss of time 4...Nf6 is preferred. White can make some tactics with 5 Bb5+ but last time I checked they come out fine for black, though I don't know the details.

Avoiding having an isolated pawn on d2 is probably still a "rule" for me, just because the tempo loss in advancing it (or preparing its advance) seems annoying. Although I concede that I am not a particularly good positional player, I think Black could pile onto (or occupy) d4 and then the pawn on d2 has none of the characteristics of a "good" isolani.

That's not such a big deal. In my experience playing the black side he can't expect to maintain a blockade on d4 once white gets in moves like d3 (if he must) and Be3 in. I tried to do this "d4" strategy and it seemed good at first but black, not being so well developed couldn't hold it forever and then his pieces just looked silly. If he could keep it from pushing to d4 you'd be right, in fact it's funny how much more powerful an iso on d4 is than on d3. If it has to stay on d3 or d2 it's basically useless.

1.e4 c6 2.c4. B10: Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack

I like it! With 12,731 games in the online Chessbase Database (4.5 million games), Black does just fine. It seems like the best players in the world with the Black pieces have excellent chances to either win or draw. Here's two examples.

In both of those examples they don't play cxd4 which I thought was problematic for black. This line of the caro looks very good for black without cxd4 especially for top flight players because it looks remarkably similar to some lines of the sicilian. 

Same open c-file for black and in game one the e6 pawn.

Game two looks good for black due to the stacked f-file pawns that tend to make a kingside attack difficult and finding a passed pawn in the endgame almost impossible, plus white has that dreadful looking iso-d-pawn.

so yes I agree with you that in this variation black has very good chances.

I can't find cxd4.

I did find 1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 dxc4   and   1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 Nf6.

Anyway, good post.

It doesn't take a Fischer to see that in itself an isolated pawn is a weakness vs a non-isolated one, and doubly so an isolated pawn on an open file, since it cannot be protected by a pawn, unless it is compensated by some advantage such as an advance in development or control of the associated open file(s). The compensations associated with the isolani in the frequently seen Queen Gambit are well-known.

Its weakness on an open file is not its only vulnerability: even more dangerous is the possibility that an opponent can station an outpost on the square in front of the isolani, which cannot be driven off with a pawn.

So yes, an isolated pawn doesn not always have to be avoided, but accepting one blindly because "there are often as many advantages as disadvantages" is a recipe for disaster.

Of course if one is piling up pieces for a winning attack on the opponent's king, having an isolani or not is immaterial....