Caro-Can 🥴🚽

oh i just love that guy!

No it isn't. The rules are unclear and short of using an engine, you can be in a general discussion about an opening you're playing and apply it to the game as long as you don't ask questions about specific positions you're playing. Obviously playing Daily games cannot stop you learning and many people play multiple games so they are bound to be learning those openings. You can refer to books but can't use an engine.

@Optimissed Oh that is good to know! I have a screenshot of a game I'm in and I only wanted to talk about the structural issues. But now I can't find it because I have over 30 such images with same questions, hahah! I've worried about Daily Games ... afraid I'll accidently go into Analysis from another finished game and ... well, I tend to stumble around a lot! Thank you!

@Fury_Alien. Dude. That rocks!

I used to have analysis open when playing Daily simply because I would have Chess.com open several times maybe without realising it .... or analyse something else and then open Daily on another Window. Strictly, they don't like it, but I never ever analysed a move before playing it on Daily. I'm a reasonably strong player in real life, although not like Pfren of course. But I've played masters, IMs and GMs. The whole idea is that you train yourself to analyse well. I can still do it at 74 but not as deep and I can't hold 4 complex lines in my memory any more. But other things come into play and I'm still playing otb at about 1950 FIDE. Part of that is due to playing lots of Daily years ago. Also to practising a lot against computers around 1982 and later. That made a big difference at the time.

Yep, I have 8 ChessDotCom tabs open right now and see what I just did?

I almost had a heart attack!

Thank you so much! So much to learn yet but I've never been happier. I just lost a game to some sort of BRILLIANT attack on my Queen that I'd never seen before! I still haven't recuperated enough to even evaluate what happened, LOL!

Yeah, I lost HORRIBLY to a much higher-rated player and I'm happier than a pig in mud over it. I'm even willing to rated games; don't mind paying a price for the luxury of losing.

You're happy because you're playing REAL chess!

Hi

Indeed I was - a taste of brilliance served up with a (much appreciated) RESOUNDING SMACK!!! hahahah! And this lesson will stick FOREVER. The lesson?

Poisoned pawn, greed, desire and reactivity. I spotted a fork at black's c7 pawn, forking King & Rook. My eyes popped out of my head and I thought, "oh my lucky day." NO. hahaha! I was served up with a smothered Queen (I think that'd be what it would be called). You'd know better than I. NEVER seen that before and I've watched thousands of games in seven months!

It was absolutely GLORIOUS and that trick (?) will never happen again to me (hopefully). Oh, it was such a PRETTY thing to see!! Yep, REAL chess. None of this is work to me. To me, each game is like exploring a loved one's body for the first time! Simply, it doesn't get any better than this.

hello

If you can enjoy the beauty of a combo even when it lands against you, that’s exactly the right mindset. Seeing the art in a loss means you’re definitely moving in the right direction as a chess player. As an alternative to chess, I recommend playing here. Incredible emotions are guaranteed.

Hey thank you, Norman! I appreciate the encouragement. :-)

Another almost 2200 rapid player in a rated game was taken down in an embarrassing fashion by the "Bayonet". "Caro-Can-doodlie-diidah"ed? Why not!

Recent course by Jobava on the 4.g4 bayonet, showing the right way to play the line as white. Part of it is free.

https://tinyurl.com/23ldd5jp

I am not so fond of the proposed line against 3...c5, but you will rarely meet the best Black replies at submaster level.

Thank you Master @Pfren. I will take a look at it. However it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

The Caro Kan't Play

<<<Why This Course Exists
The Caro-Kann's reputation for solidity makes it a favorite among players who trust structure and deep positional understanding. This course offers White a completely different approach: unbalance the position early, create immediate tactical threats, and force opponents into unfamiliar territory.>>>

But there are lots of ways to destabilise the caro, which is exactly why the reputation for solidity only exists among very weak players. So this is likely to be a bad course which, as Pfren intimates, tends to ignore stronger lines for black. Having said that, all the white victories given here were as a result of black's weak play. Also, e5 - e6 was being played over 30 years ago. to my own knowledge .... probably for longer.

The coverage of the 3...Bf5 4.g4 line is great, actually Jobava has played the line himself quite a few times. And he does not hide anything under the carpet, ala Dzindzi- he does claim that Black can equalize IF he knows what he is doing, and he gives the lines in full.

I said I don't like his 4.dxc5 after 3...c5 which is the other main line (I think that 4.Nf3 poses more practical problems to Black).