Chapter 2 - Advance Variation
3.e5
See: https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Variation
(Quick primer: there are two main moves for Black on move 3:
3...Bf5 Main Line https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Variation-3...Bf5
3...c5 Botvinnik-Carls Defense https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Botvinnik-Carls-Defense
https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Botvinnik-Carls-Defense-4.dxc5
The main line follows with many lines including:
4. Nf3 Short variation https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Short-Variation-with-4-Nf3
4. Nc3 Van der Wiel Attack https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Van-der-Wiel-Attack
Yasser's talk on Nunn vs Seirawan 1983 Van der Wiel Attack game with 5.g4 Bg6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP8GV5wQMZA
Van der Wiel Attack is also known as the Shirov or Nunn-Shirov attack, for an explanation by Sicilian Paramour see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leBj_mN8-YU
https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Van-der-Wiel-Attack-4...e6-5.g4-Bg6
4. h4 Tal variation https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Tal-Variation
4. Ne2 Bronstein variation https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Bronstein-Variation
)
IM Alex Astaneh chess factor video on Advance variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRmwIRYnm8A&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmXOjbqXE_Pccyy7pvRUI1O&index=4
Hanging Pawns 20 min video on Advance variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9uHKJ1WgbM&list=RDCMUCkJdvwRC-oGPhRHW_XPNokg&index=2
14 - Attack King in Center
3 minute blitz game against "barano"
15 - Hugged Your Pawn?
So named after the expression to protect your pieces like they are your children. This game shows what happens when White fails to adequately protect his pieces
16 - Slow Steady Advance
17 - Pelle Lingsell Bishop Retreat
3.e5 Bf5 4.Bd3 Bxd3
18 - Easy Caro-Kann vs Amort
19 - Ray Alexis in Caro-Kann
20 - Why Trade Queens?
In this game Sawyer says "after a queen swap on move seven, White had exchanged two of his best attacking pieces. Black's Knights and good dark squared bishop were left with excellent posts for operation."
21 - Harry Foesig Caro Trains
22 - Art Keiser Challenge
3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6
https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-Advance-Van-der-Wiel-Attack
23 - Tim Barnes on 7/7/77
Sawyer defeated Barnes in 19 full moves.
24 - Oldest Chess Player
When Sawyer played Edgar Valentine Trull, in 1978, he was 82 or 83 years old and rated around 1788.
25 - AtTheGreat Attacks
Short blitz game, Black wins in 19 full moves.
26 - Niemi Pushes Pawns
As a postal chess player Sawyer had between 30 and 50 games in progress at one time. He typically made between 6 and 8 tournament moves per day and spent between 15 and 30 minutes per move.
When he first moved to email based correspondence chess he overcommitted and played too many games. He lost hundreds of rating points as a result.
This was one of Sawyer's defeats
27 - Joseph Byrnes Clash
At the point of Draw by agreement, Stockfish still thinks White is ahead.
This is the name of one of the many chess books written by Tim Sawyer. I have covered games from his book on the Sicilian, and I am recreating many of the 120 Caro Kann games in this book in digital form to learn more about how to play this opening.
This will take a few weeks to fully develop so please be patient as I improve these posts. I will start off with the master games and add a selection of Sawyer's games in afterwards.
Some online resources for learning Caro-Kann theory:
Gothamchess 10 min intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmbU97iftC8
IM Alex Astaneh 9 part series (approx. 4 hours) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmXOjbqXE_Pccyy7pvRUI1O
GM Medvegy on
Classical Variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFAW_fwGiVo&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=2
Panov Attack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6u87oChkqM&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=2
Advance Variation Mainlines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTTJn_W0F_w&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=4
Advance Variation Sidelines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFNzt-JHSdI&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=5
Modern and 4...Nf6 variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYAgyziDoIo&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=6
Minor Lines for White: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ2ERnWL_n8&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmAUUZTU2_tvzAaqk500PHD&index=7
Hanging Pawn's introduction (26 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiz7KLKjLas&list=PLssNbVBYrGcCa4bJH7JqmUZs3qNdSWUkG&index=3
Full Hanging Pawn's Caro-Kann series (approx. 3 hours) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jiz7KLKjLas&list=PLssNbVBYrGcBZfLbeAU7d8llHf2jxBEl7
National Master Caleb Denby profiles the Caro-Kann Defense. Featuring the games Jones vs Xiong, Alexey Shirov vs Anatoly Karpov, Dmitry Jakovenko vs Pavel Eljanov, Alexander Grischuk vs Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev (53 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP_jVuPc3QU
Quangk's complete guide: https://www.chess.com/blog/Quangk/caro-kann-defence-the-complete-guide
Guide to Karpov's Caro-Kann games: https://www.chess.com/article/view/anatoly-karpov-and-the-caro-kann
What this book lacks is any examples of the Breyer variation. It is one of the rarer variations but is no less interesting than the others. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzcN2JnbtU&list=PL9RQPxG_e-LmXOjbqXE_Pccyy7pvRUI1O&index=4
Chapter 1 - Rare lines
1. e4 c6
1 - Lakdawala on 2.Ne2!?
Sawyer is a fan of "Caro Kann: Move by Move" by Cyrus Lakdawala (along with his other books) and used the information he'd read that book to guide him in this blitz game against a 2212 rated player.
Drawn by repetition
2 - Why change strategy?
3 - Odd chess challenger
This was played against an old chess bot rated around 1400.
4 - Peter Webster on Kampars
Sawyer tells a story on BDG magazine editor Nikolajs Kampars and shows his game against Bobby Fischer
New Western Open (1957), Milwaukee, WI USA, rd 6, Jul-06
Caro-Kann Defense: Two Knights Attack. Mindeno Variation Exchange Line (B11) · 1/2-1/2
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044057
Bio Mio's guide to the Two Knights variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYP_H8uW89M
5 - Diemar-Duhm Gambit
A five minute blitz game against a 1500 rate player
2. d4 d5 3. f4
6 - You Need a Plan of Attack
In this game e4 c6 was played on the third rather than the first move.
7 - Hou Yifan 3.f3 Ruck
Hou Yifan defeats GM Robert Ruck in 2014
8 - Juergen Bendix Bold 3.f3
A game played at the North Penn chess club against a 1370 rated player
9 - Smyslov Caro-Kann Alapin
GM Vasily Smyslov's victory over Ilia Ambromovich Kan in 1943
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1125432
10 - French Masters 3.f3 e5
FIDE Master Benjamin Le Corre vs Vianney Domenech, 2014
3.f3 dxe4
11 - Bezgodov Extreme Caro
Alexey Bezgodov is a Grandmaster who wrote a book called The Extreme Caro, which covers the fantasy variation.
Sawyer's blitz defeat to 2441 rated blik in a Caro Kann fantasy game.
12 - Tactical Timofeev 3.f3 (Fantasy variation)
GM Artyom Timofeev defeats FM Pavel Bublei
In April 2009 Timofeev was rated 2677 and ranked number 53 in the world.
13 - Caro-Kann Pythagoras
Another Fantasy variation game
Sawyer's defeat of ~2000 rated blitz player "Pythagoras"