Caro-Kann

What are the general plans in the caro-kann classical variation for white?

There are approx. a dozen setups both for White and for Black.

Precise question, precise answer.

Thanks

The main plan is to exploit the spatial advantage in the endgame. Example:

Good

Another plan is associated with an attack on the position of the black king.

For blacks instead of move 17. ... cd, it is interesting to try the move17. ... c4!? With the idea, if White makes a sacrifice, open the file "c".

With c7-c5, Black is late, but without this move, choosing protection by exchanging pieces and moving on to the endgame, Black gets a hopeless endgame.
In summary: Protection Karo-Kan has no prospects in the game at the highest level.

@ujcn you sure? Weird that all of the following players played this opening "without prospects at highest levels" during last 5 years: Mamedyarov, Caruana, Anand, Nakamura, Giri, So, Ding, Grischuk, Karjakin, Navara, Topalov, Bacrot and quite some others.

@sirkmatija Please show the game in the classic variation.

Svidler vs Giri (1/2-1/2): http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1801828
Zherebukh vs Nakamura (0-1): http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1870395
Hou vs So (1/2-1/2): http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1795080
Sutovsky vs Elyanov (0-1): http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1755167

Pretty good for opening with no prospects, right?