Caro-Kann

Caro-kann is a great opening. It is solid and there are tactical sharp lines.

But I find that it is difficult to play as black.

Black needs to be booked up to not get blown off the board early on (e.g. Short's Line, Smyslov main line). The solid positions can be quite fragile in my experience. I've been playing it for >5 years so I would think have a good feel for the positions, and I have read through Lakdawala's CK book. But maybe I'm just too lazy to learn the damn thing properly, haha. And I'm starting to get suspicious of some of Lakdawala's line choices in both the CK and the Slav book.

When i played it my theory ended after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 de 4. Nxe4 Bf5

But i think Black's c5 break and d5 Square are quite valuable.

It is a very boring opening in my opinion. I would never play it but if you can beat your 1200 friend with it, hats off to you.

@MathematicChess
Turing into a one trick pony is nothing I recommend, I agree with you.

@ModernChessIsBoring
In the first example in which way does the engine disagree with you?
Without giving Stockfish much time, it spit out the following
1. 26 [+0.46] 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.e3 h6 ...
2. 26 [+0.42] 4.Qc2 d5 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bg5 cxd4 ...
3. 26 [+0.39] 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 ...
4. 26 [+0.39] 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 b6 6.e3 Bb7 ...

The difference is nothing and probably smaller than the underline error.

In the second example,
A strong engine comes to your club, plays what you consider to be a shitty opening and beats everything.
Is it really a bad opening?

As for what you play is up to your preference, I'm not suggesting following the first pick religiously.

Caro-Kann is a great opening.
Nimzovich thought it proves 1 e4 is premature for white.
Soviet players chose to play it against Fischer.
Botvinnik, Petrosian, Karpov, Anand, Kasparov all have played it.

Couple of questions on the Caro-Kann...

1. Due to the difficulties in getting your king side pieces out I frequently feel as though it's too late to castle and that I'd be better leaving the king in the middle...

Is this normal or am I just playing it badly?

2. I never fianchetto the bishop.

Am I missing a trick here?

@hampy That's completely normal: I also dislike the Fianchetto setups in Caro-Kann and you can leave the King center when the position is closed (advance variation).

@BlackSalt
After 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. a3 my Engine (Stockfish 10 (I ran it up to depth 45) on 16 Threats) says -0,4.

Fischer once beat Nigel short (on ICC) with 1. f4 d5 2. Kf2 Nc6 3. Kf3 e5 4. c3
When an Engine walks into your place, plays this, says it's very good and beats you: would you mainly play it just because the engine won or because it says it's good?

I -too- think you should play whatever you want, but i also think we should all use the engine to assist the calculation after a game, but not for theorethical purpose (like the opening). This would make the game a bit more interesting, because a lot of premature sacrifices would work.

Yes, Caro-Kann is my favourite opening.

It is regarded by the best correspondence chess players as one of the three fully sound responses to 1.e4 (together with 1...e5 and Sicilian, as they seem to consider French a bit dubious). Capablanca never lost a game with it, and for Karpov it was a first-choice weapon with Black when he was in his prime. I believe that if there existed only one correct answer to e4, it would be Caro-Kann.

Moreover, its drawish reputation isn't fully deserved. Basically, White knows that if they don't win in the middlegame, they will suffer in the endgame with worse pawn structure. And it puts a certain psychological onus - you have to attack - you can easily compromise your position... I use it even in win-on-demand situations, and with reasonably good results. Of course, in some variations an avid Caro-Kann player should be booked up at least to the fifteenth move, but what is it when compared to the Sicilian Dragon?

I have concentrated on Caro-Kann for quite a few years and I don't really feel like turning into a "one-trick pony". There are so many themes and ideas to choose between. In the recent months, I moved completely from 5...e6 to 5...Nc6 when facing Panov Attack. Now, I'm working on modern treatment of Old Exchange Line (with 4...Nc6, 5...Qc7 and early e5 break). The next concept I'd like to try is 3...Nf6 against Two Knights Attack, and then maybe Rd8 instead of long castling in Classical Main Line.

Besides, during some lecture about Bulgarian history I got inspired to create my own variation in Caro-Kann. Most probably, it isn't sound, but it can give really much pleasure. Here it is: lichess.org/study/o90G6AeU.

@ModernChessIsBoring

I could agree.

@Otienimous

If you play that opening, you better be extremely good at middlegame. The engine doesn't like it, but if you can catch your opponent off guard or out of their playing book then you definitely have a chance.

What's the name for your opening?