A choice

the french is a better caro kann

it eliminates the slow, passive nature of the caro and turn its more agressive and counter-attacking

the only issue is the weak bishop on c8

unless white makes serious mistakes or plays 3.Nc3, then i dont think the caro can be agressive at all

Thank you both.

I have excellent elements to think about to decide. I have to say : not knowing either one or the other opening, the idea of ​​adopting the French with Black left me a little more perplexed precisely because of that trapped Bc8. Now I see that in reality this is not an insurmountable problem: at least in the basic lines you have proposed, it seems to me that at the end of the opening the game opens well. Reducing the ideas to be used to the bare bones, I see that French is more easily manageable than the Caro Kann ; while from the point of view of the possibilities they offer, they are equivalent, just a matter of player’s style and preferences.

So, if no one questions what you said, I think I will go for the French ( even if the Caro Kann, with that Bc8 free to immediately jump into the fray... I liked the idea ) . I'll start by playing a good number of unrated games, to gain confidence, following the basic lines you indicated.

You're welcome. Need more help with learning the french?

The Sicilian is no more complex than any other opening.

The basic idea is simple and logical: you fight for the center with your c-pawn, trade it off for a center pawn. Then you play on the c-file.

That said, the Caro-Kann and the French are very good choices as well-

the reason why the french is used more often than the caro kann is that black gets MUCH QUICKER counterplay agianst the center with a quick c5 and is usually more agressive and tactical

in the caro you have to play Bf5-e6-c5 to start anything, which is slow and allows white more options for counterplay. and black wastes a few tempos with c7-c6 then later going c6-c5 compared to the french which is just a quicker c5

heres a good example

very often white finds a way to disallow c5 untill much later in the caro, which forces black to have a more passive position. but a free bishop and near unbreakable structure

which in the french black does not care about his c8 bishop and just goes for counterplay as soon as possible, not giving white any time to make enough counterplay

Yes, you surely are right. I say "complex" in the sense that it can unfold in countless variations, much more than the other openings. In reality, this doesn't affect much : being in the open sea and sailing by sight, or playing with an opening that I know, in the end doesn't make much difference regarding the results ( and in fact, I soon realized that at low levels like mne, opening has little importance compared to other aspects of the game ).

It is rather a "psychological" question... When I am the one who decides the opening, I feel the need to have points of reference : that is, to have the illusion of having the situation under control. For example: as White against the Sicilian I have no problems ; in fact they are almost always very funny games, whatever the opponent does. But if I had to open with the Sicilian as Black, the enormous variety of White's possible responses would make me a bit uncomfortable. It must be a kind of "Lasker effect" ( I read somewhere that he preferred to play a risky opening that the opponent didn't like rather than a safe opening but in which the opponent was comfortable ).

I would argue that 1. e4 e5 is more complex (in this sense) than the Sicilian.

Not that it matters much. Just learn what you like, all openings are roughly equally good.

Not for now, This material is simple, clear and essential, just what I was looking for. I won't rule it out later, when I've had enough practice. Thanks again.