A choice

Hi.

I'm starting to consider the idea of ​​adopting, as Black, a response to 1.e4 other than 1..., e5. Setting aside the Sicilian ( too complex ) and other openings, I would opt for the Caro Kann or the French.

I'll say straight away that both due to lack of time and because at my level it isn't very useful, I have no intention of carrying out a systematic study. With this in mind, my choice would therefore be based on two criteria, in decreasing order of importance :

1) Ease of managing. In other words: which of the two openings offers the possibility of playing with fewer patterns and basic ideas, allowing you to better juggle between the different variations, following only intuition and general principles?

2) Which of the two openings allows a more active type of game for Black? ( not necessarily combative, but active, i.e. with a good chance of taking the initiative ).

I don't know if I explained well. Thanks for any suggestions.

1) French. If you want to play it with the least amount of theory, you basically need to learn only three setups from white. On the second move, when you challenge their e4 pawn by pushing d5, they can either take your pawn, push e5, or protect their e4 pawn. For the exchange variation the best thing to learn to save time and nerves is the classical setup

2) Both, but Caro >= French. caro and french are like a brother and sister, their variations mirror each other. So. Advanced - French has more initianive. Exchange - Caro has more initiative(but if we play queenside castle setup the french has more initiative.) the pawn gets defended - if we compare blackburne to tarkatower, caro gets more >=. If we play open tarrash or french winawer, well....french is the winner again. Btw i forgot about the rozman french

this is the third of the three setups of the rubinstein french(where we take, other two were the fort knox and blackburne). It allows crazy attacks on white. So, in my opinion, french is the winner 60/40. Caro gives better piece activity in cost of slower development tho.

Thank you, @lassus_dinnao. Very useful to begin to orient myself in these ( to me ) unknown seas, really.

You're welcome. Btw, I think it's a crime that I didn't make any diagrams about the caro. So, basically here is about advanced

also 3.c5 is a poor choice in the caro kann and just loses a pawn for little compensation play Bf5

the pawn can be won back.

how is this even playable for black? why would you recommend him a worse poisoned pawn french

position is full 0s, 49 to 47 winrate, 2% better for black. And bro, stop. Why do you all 1700s try to recommend an intermediate player an advanced opening? What are you trying to shield him from? From a 1 in 300 games where his opponent actually plays this line? I would rather be down a pawn in one you of 300 games than play the most complicated line ever trying to avoid something that's never gonna happen, while also allowing my opponent to play 120139120 attacking lines against me. Bro said he has small amount of time to study, I recommend him lines that are easy to learn and practical for his level and like 500 points above. He will have success with that. Will he have success with the mainline? Maybe. Is it more practical? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

It's the same as recommending marshall attack ruy lopez instead of old steinitz TO A 600

we are not robots

the fischer sozin attack is 0.00 yet very hard to play for black

the poisoned pawn french is very hard to play for white

poisoned pawn najdorf is extremely hard to play for black

just because its 0.00 does not mean its an instant draw. its still very hard to play for humans

the computer literally says +1 for the mar del plata variation of the kings indian. yet black wins so many of those games

I like how you reacted only to that thesis, instead of the main point of commentary. THE POINT THAT YOU RECOMMEND A TODDLER TO WALK INSTEAD OF CRAWLING BECAUSE HE CAN HURT HIS KNEE IF HE EVER FINDS A NAIL ON THE FLOOR

why would there be a nail on the floor?

and my toddler is gonna have to learn to walk sooner than later

that was an analogy to what you were saying, expert.

The guy actually said 1) Ease of managing. In other words: which of the two openings offers the possibility of playing with fewer patterns and basic ideas, allowing you to better juggle between the different variations, following only intuition and general principles?

Imagine a guy asks you "what's the easiest way to learn to ride a bicycle?" and instead of giving him a tricycle, you told him to ride the monocycle

the easiest way to learn how to ride a bicycle is trial and error, using a tricycle is for 4 year olds

also the advanced caro kann is known to be whites most challenging option and if its too hard for you to learn how to play agianst the tal, bayonnet, or short variations then dont play it

maybe play e5 or the french

I see. There is no sense in continuing our conversation

the caro is also much more passive and very well known for its drawish tendency

the advanced is like the open sicilian. its very difficult to play for black if he does not know exactly what hes doing

Thanks for advertising the french defence