Caro-Kann 101: Classical

What to do against 1.e4 c6?  The Classical variation of the Caro-Kann is the line players of 1.e4 come back to when other tries against the Caro-Kann require rehab, and it's the logical first try.  The moves below through White's 10th have been played several thousand times.  These moves are overwhelmingly the main line of the Classical variation.  While there may be minor variations along the way, the heavy duty theory starts at Black's 10th: 10...Ngf6 (below), 10...e6 (the major choice), and 10...Qc7.  In the game below, White takes the King to the queenside, which is a result of one of the more important choices to be made in the main line. 

C

World Team Championship: Panov-Botvinnik Attack

So far so good at the World Team Championship!

. Team win draw loss MP GP . 1 Armenia 3 0 1 6 10 . 2 USA 3 0 1 6 10 . 3 Russia 3 0 1 6 9.5 . 4 Israel 3 0 1 6 9.5 . 5 India 3 0 1 6 9 . 6 Azerbaijan 2 0 2 4 8.5 . 7 Greece 1 0 3 2 7 . 8 Brazil 1 0 3 2 7 . 9 Egypt 1 0 3 2 6 . 10 Turkey 0 0 4 0 3.5

A good solid game by Hess.

Caro-Kann 101: The Short Variation (Advance)

Back to the Caro-Kann Advance and 5...Nd7. Take a close look at moves 6-10 in contrast to G26 below. This time Svidler is on the black side. Morozevich's move, 9...h5, is worth a closer look, although it didn't work out for Svidler here. Sjugirov's 10.g3 is the novelty in this game.

Caro-Kann 101: The Short Variation--5...c5

This game presents the other big idea against the Short variation of the Advance Caro-Kann: 5...c5. (We saw 5...Nd7 three posts down.)

Caro-Kann 101: The Short Variation (Advance)

The Short variation of the Advance Caro-Kann has probably never been more popular than now. Black is barely holding his own statistically; however, this try by Svidler is not going to set Black back much.