The Advance Caro-Kann

The first opening that I understood was the Alekhine Defense. I liked developing a piece aggressively on the first move, and it amused me to compare it to Russia's strategy against Napoleon: tempt your enemy to overextend their infantry deep into your territory. It amused me further when I read that Napoleon actually played the Alekhine Defense, even if it's unlikely to be true. At some point it dawned on me that it wasn't just an amusing comparison, but that I had actually understood the strategic idea of the opening in a way that I didn't understand any other.

For the most part, however, I ignored opening work, because I enjoyed studying endgames and found middlegame strategy more useful. As I started playing longer time controls and stronger players, I decided that I should start thinking about my openings. Since I enjoyed the Scandinavian variation of the Alekhine, which goes 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Nfd7 4. d4 e6, when black is prepared to play c5 against just about any move, I thought that I would take up the Caro-Kann, which had a similar feel with its thematic c5 idea.

The Caro-Kann was a favorite weapon of legendary players like Capablanca, Smyslov, Petrosian, Bronstein, Tal, and Karpov. Its popularity was due in part to the fact that the Advance Variation was considered to be bad for white: it was thought to be a better version of the French for black, in which the light-squared bishop was not entombed. This began to change in the 1980s, led in part by Nigel Short, when an explosion of theory developed to harass black's bishop on the kingside, and the Advance Variation became white's most challenging response. Since that time the Caro-Kann has declined in popularity at the top level, although it has been used recently by top players like Anand and Firouzja.

Nevertheless it remains a good choice for many players, especially those who want to avoid lots of theory. Although not exactly a "system", black's moves are fairly standard and it is not easy for white to steer away from them. The Exchange Variation can be met with common sense opening principles, and black has several easy choices against the Classical Variation after 3. Nc3. Although the Panov Attack and the Accelerated Panov Attack can be surprising, they are also easily met. At least for me, the most difficult part of playing the Caro-Kann was developing a response to the Advance Variation, which is white's most common strategy on Lichess.

In order to do that, I created the following study on the Botvinnik-Carls Defense, which meets the Advance Variation with the immediate 3. ...c5. It contains over 25 illustrative games, from a Tal game in 1955, and Botvinnik's games against Tal in the 1961 World Championship, to games played by Ding Liren and MVL in 2021, including two games by Magnus, and even a computer battle. Disclaimer: This is not a top-level theoretical analysis, but rather an attempt based on my own preferences to get playable middlegame positions with minimal theory, and it is not finalized.

The Botvinnik-Carls is black's only serious alternative to the 3. ...Bf5 main line. It was revisited and developed especially by Keith Arkell, whose games are worth studying if you choose to play this line. It was explored in Karpov's book with Mikhail Podgaets Caro-Kann Defence: Advance Variation and Gambit System (translated by Jimmy Adams in 2006), and it was the line recommended by Joe Gallagher (2002) and Jovanka Houska (2007) in their books on the Caro-Kann. In the Lichess database the results of master games is almost identical to the mainline, while black actually scores better in amateur games.

At first glance it seems strange to move the c pawn for a second time in three moves and lose a tempo, especially as a pawn sacrifice. It turns out, however, that white can only capitalize on the lost tempo by taking on c5, in which case it fractures its central structure and leaves two targets on e5 and c5. If white attempts to hold on to both pawns, it often finds its pieces awkwardly placed with nothing but a defensive plan. Yet this is white's most challenging response.

On the other hand, c5 is a thematic move in the Caro-Kann, which black wants to play as soon as possible to challenge white's center, and playing it immediately has several advantages: (1) it avoids the theory-laden main line after Bf5, but still retains the possibility of developing the bishop along that diagonal, for example Bg4 if white plays Nf3 or Bf5 after c3, (2) it opens the e8-a4 diagonal for the light-squared bishop if you decide to play e6 and keep it inside the pawn chain, and (3) it clears the c6 square for the knight.

It's worth exploring if you want a reliable response to e4 with minimal theory, whether or not you already play the Caro-Kann. Although you retain the option of developing the light-squared bishop initially, it often happens that black plays e6 early and traps the bishop temporarily, so it's perhaps better suited for players who are okay with such French and Alekhine type positions with less space. In my opinion, white's best response is dxc5, which is the most common choice in master games, but not on Lichess, where c3 is played more than twice as often, and allows black to develop the bishop favorably.