Caro Kann

Question 1

What are the 3 things to remember against the Caro Kann?

Answer 1

1. Play Bd3.
2. Play Bf4.
3. Take if Black plays e5.
   Our main theme is good bishop (our lsb) against bad bishop (their lsb).

Question 2

What is the typical setup against the Caro Kann?

Answer 2

1. e4 c6, 2. d4 d5, 3. exd5 cxd5, 4. Bd3 (Monster Bishop Variation), … c3/Bf4.

Question 3

What do we play against 4… Nc6, 5…e5?

Answer 3

We take dxe5; after Nxe5 we play Qe2 pinning the knight and forcing Qe7; we retreat our bishop to c2 and play f3. Our strategy is to play against the IQP.

Question 4

What do we play against 6…Bd6?

Answer 4

We take Bxd6; now we have our thematic good vs. bad bishop. We build an attack on the kingside; our knight is headed for e5 via f3, our queen goes to e2. We bring the other knight to d2 and can consider f4.

Question 5

What do we play against 6…Nf6, 7…Be7?

Answer 5

We follow a similar plan as against 6…Bd6. We build an attack on the kingside. Our main asset is the e5 square, where we can put both our knights (f3; d2, f3). We play Qe2 to support control of the e-file. After f4, our rook can come to h3.

Question 6

What do we play after 6…Nf6, …Bg4?

Answer 6

If Black plays Nf6, we play c3 so that we can play Qb3 after Bg4.

Question 7

What do we play if Black castles long?

Answer 7

We play the same setup as always. We put a knight on e5, maybe solidified by f4. Our queenside attack is fast, since we already played c3: b4, a4, Nb3. We do not need to castle.