glanot57 vs nebri: Caro-Khan

Hey everyone,

link to the game here: lichess.org/ccihfSdE/black

Would love to have an analysis / discussion on how black can improve in the Caro-Khan. I went into a big think on line #20, but I was really struggling to find a plan. At this point in the game I see I can pin white's c3 pawn, and potentially take advantage of it by playing something like Nxd4, however that square is currently defended by the white f3 knight. I ended up pushing h6 foolishly, with the idea of starting a pawn storm of dislodging the f3 knight, and potentially trying to crack open the king position. This plan failed very quickly, but I feel there was missed opportunities in the lines that followed.

Things that I'm hoping to get out of this conversation:

- identify my bad habits
- understand the system and it's goals better
- reference materials: This could be blog posts, videos to review, etc.

My time to study and play chess is limited, which is why I chose to Caro-Khan as there's really only four major varitions that you need to cover. This cuts down the scope, but I feel I'm walking into extremely well known territory. I'd love to hear suggestions on how to force white players away from theory (open to changing systems) so that at least I can level the theory field.

I can absolutely improve my time mangement in game. I grew up in the online blitz world, trying to learn how to slow down, play more accurately, there are habits that need to be broken. I"m also coming back from a big hiatus / break. Goal is to recover my old strength of playing rapid in the high 1700's.

Long term goal, get acclimated to classical time controls to enter my local Chess Federation of Canada events.

Hi @Nebri , to me it seems like you mainly fall for the typical ~1600 trap of "schematic thinking", from which i also suffered for quite a long time. I already posted about that topic on another game analysis here: lichess.org/forum/game-analysis/analysis-for-my-games#2

Also maybe (i'm not sure about that) you may not understand the purpose of some moves, but you just "memorized" them.

In relation to the game you are referring to, this means...

1) When you play 6...e6, you block in your bishop on c8, transforming it to a "bad bishop" (at least for the moment). Since you do not seem to make this mistake in most of your other games, I can only imagine, that you memorized the opening moves, but failed to understand, why and when you should move the bishop outside of your pawn-chain.
Don't get me wrong... Nothing happened so far, no blunder, just a "little" positional inaccuracy, that later adds up and slowly but surely suddenly may lead to a disadvantage.

2) When white played the "aggressive" 8.Ne5, you may take some time and think about what just happened on the board.
You just (schematic) castled and that's okay. Nothing wrong with that, but you could also take some time, think about the position and increase the pressure on the knight by playing 8. ...Qc7 (developing the queen on a sensible square and moving it out of potential threats after white playing Nxc6 at some point).

3) Oh, there it is: 9. ...Nd7?? just fell into the Nxc6 problem. You were lucky and your opponent did not see the simple 2-move
tactic (losing your bishop on d6), that had ended the game immediately. It seems, that you (schematically) react to the "threat" of the aggressive placed knight on e5, so that you not only break the opening rules by moving a piece twice in the opening and thereby missing a simple tactic, but also not looking for (counter-)attacking possibilities like the simple 9. ...Bxe5, still adding pressure with 9. ...Qc7 or even 9. ...Qb6 (eyeing b2).

4) 10. ...f6?? Again, you only see "the red flag" on e5 and want to get rid of it. You even decide to destroy your beautiful castle by playing ...f6, even tho queens and bishops are still on the board (a lot of attacking potential against your king's position). Yes, still you don't see the simple tactic, but even without that tactic, this move is a real concession to white. Your opponent again did not end the game and so it goes on...

5) The game goes on and you play 13. ...a5 - a (typical/schematic) space gaining move. Again, nothing wrong with that, but what's going on at the board? You still suffer from your locked-in bishop, sitting on c8. Why not freeing it up with a muilti purpose move like 13. ...e5 (attacking/increasing the pressure in the centre and simultaneously increasing the range of your bishop from only 1 squre to 5 = 500%).

Okay, I'll stop here - you may see the pattern? That's all just my opinion and if you can get something out oft what i wrote, you may for example study the following Books by Jeremy Silman: "The Amateur's mind" and "Reassess your chess (4th edition)" to overcome your current plateau (others will hopefully follow, giving you new opportunities to grow as a player).

Bye and good luck on your lifelong chess journey!

@Nebri in addition to your question on openings, you can of course switch to more system-based openings (London System, Hippopotamus, Modern Defence, Owens Defence, ...) which i also did to decrease theoretical overload (feel free to check the latest games in my game history for some inspiration) BUT keep in mind, that this route is not a guarantee for growth as a chess player, since you limit your "scope" on the game.

Also playing some of those systems force you to play a lot of games to get a "feel" for them, because for example the hypermodern openings are pretty challenging since you often have to intentionally break common opening rules and sometiomes you lose without even knowing why - whereas other Systems like the London may backfire because of your (imho) schematic thinking, in which they often "force" you to play standard-moves like a robot (and thereby maybe lead you to miss cool opportunities on the way)...

Bye!

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