The Scandinavian Defence is definitely one of the neglected sidelines of the contemporary opening theory. Only just a few grandmasters dare to include it in their opening repertoires at high level once in a while. On the other hand it is worth noting that the only time when the Scandinavian Defence was tested in a World Championship Match (Kasparov - Anand, New York 1995, game 14); Black had no problems in the opening whatsoever. So, matters are in fact far from simple and the widespread opinion that after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5, White obtains the advantage as he pleases happens to be quite far from the truth.
White needs to have extensive opening knowledge and to play precisely and energetically in order to secure an opening advantage. I hope that the resume of the acquired theoretical knowledge up to now as well as some new and original analyses will help players of different levels to solve that problem successfully.
The Caro-Kann Defence leads to positions that are sometimes similar to the Scandinavian Defence if you have in mind the pawn structure and the standard opening strategy. On the other hand, contrary to the not so solid Scandinavian Defence, it enjoys the reputation as the opening of the chess-academics. Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov - this list of great chess-champions that have been life-long devotees of the Caro-Kann Defence can be easily extended. The reliability of that opening has been proven in a period of decades and presently in the 21 century, the Caro-Kann Defence is enjoying its second (third..., fourth...?) youth. That opening might
not be so attractive and popular at amateur level - it is often considered to be a bit passive and dull etc. I will not try to dissuade the skeptics with just one statement. I will only recommend to the readers to have one more look at the games of the classics that we have mentioned before. Meanwhile, the games of some of the present high-class grandmasters and most of all Bareev and Dreev can also show you the hidden dynamics of the allegedly dull positions and the exquisite beauty of the seemingly simple positional decisions in that opening.
White has tried and will definitely continue to try numerous ways to obtain an advantage against the Caro-Kann Defence. The Panov Attack, the closed system with 3.e5, as well as the slightly artificial move 3.f3, the two-knight system - all these lines have their adherents. The author of that book does not attempt to formulate a final evaluation of that opening. He still ventures to recommend the move 3.Nc3 as the most correct from the point of view of the classical opening principles. That system has also yielded the best tournament and match results in the practice of the eminent Indian grandmaster Anand.
We did not restrict ourselves to only analysing the main lines. We have tried to give you some definite recommendations as how to tackle lines that are considered to be second rate. Still, the main topic of that book are Black's two most principled ways of playing - 4...Nd7 and 4...Bf5. Both lines are extremely popular in the contemporary opening practice and essential novelties come up practically every month. We had to analyse extensively a lot of lines in order to avoid the possibility of our book becoming theoretically obsolete in a only short period of time...That work brought about plenty of interesting discoveries and sometimes surprising results and the author shares with pleasure all these with the readers.
A word of caution, though... Do not rely on an immediate win even after applying some quite surprising idea. Be ready to counter a tough resistance from your opponent. The super-solid Caro-Kann Defence has a respectable reputation to live up to!
Content
Part 1. 1.e4 c6 2.d4
010 1 various without 2...d5 and 2...g6
018 2 2...g6 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Bg7; 4...d5
034 3 2...g6 3Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 d5 5.e5 without 5...h5
046 4 2...g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5
068 5 2...d5 3.Nc3 various without 3...dxe4 and 3...g6
076 6 2...d5 3.Nc3 g6
Part 2. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 various; 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6
094 7 rare lines; 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6 exf6
106 8 5...gxf6 6.c3 various; 6.Bf5 7.Nf3 without 7...Nd7
125 9 5...gxf6 6.c3 Bf5 7.Nf3 Nd7
Part 3. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5
137 10 various without 5...Ndf6 and 5...Ngf6
148 11 5...Ndf6
160 12 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 without 6...e6
170 13 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 without 7...Bd6
179 14 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 without 10...Nf6
199 15 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Nf6
Part 4. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3
219 16 7...Nf6; 7...e6
243 17 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 without 11...Nf6
255 18 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.Ne4 without 13...Ngf6; 12...Ngf6 13.Ne4 without 13...0-0-0
264 19 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nc5
278 20 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Be7; 15...Bd6
289 21 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Nf6
299 22 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 without 12...Be7
310 23 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Be7
Part 5. Scandinavian Defence
1.e4 d5 2.exd5
323 24 2...Nf6
330 25 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 without 3...Qa5
338 26 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5
350 Index of Variations
White needs to have extensive opening knowledge and to play precisely and energetically in order to secure an opening advantage. I hope that the resume of the acquired theoretical knowledge up to now as well as some new and original analyses will help players of different levels to solve that problem successfully.
The Caro-Kann Defence leads to positions that are sometimes similar to the Scandinavian Defence if you have in mind the pawn structure and the standard opening strategy. On the other hand, contrary to the not so solid Scandinavian Defence, it enjoys the reputation as the opening of the chess-academics. Capablanca, Botvinnik, Petrosian and Karpov - this list of great chess-champions that have been life-long devotees of the Caro-Kann Defence can be easily extended. The reliability of that opening has been proven in a period of decades and presently in the 21 century, the Caro-Kann Defence is enjoying its second (third..., fourth...?) youth. That opening might
not be so attractive and popular at amateur level - it is often considered to be a bit passive and dull etc. I will not try to dissuade the skeptics with just one statement. I will only recommend to the readers to have one more look at the games of the classics that we have mentioned before. Meanwhile, the games of some of the present high-class grandmasters and most of all Bareev and Dreev can also show you the hidden dynamics of the allegedly dull positions and the exquisite beauty of the seemingly simple positional decisions in that opening.
White has tried and will definitely continue to try numerous ways to obtain an advantage against the Caro-Kann Defence. The Panov Attack, the closed system with 3.e5, as well as the slightly artificial move 3.f3, the two-knight system - all these lines have their adherents. The author of that book does not attempt to formulate a final evaluation of that opening. He still ventures to recommend the move 3.Nc3 as the most correct from the point of view of the classical opening principles. That system has also yielded the best tournament and match results in the practice of the eminent Indian grandmaster Anand.
We did not restrict ourselves to only analysing the main lines. We have tried to give you some definite recommendations as how to tackle lines that are considered to be second rate. Still, the main topic of that book are Black's two most principled ways of playing - 4...Nd7 and 4...Bf5. Both lines are extremely popular in the contemporary opening practice and essential novelties come up practically every month. We had to analyse extensively a lot of lines in order to avoid the possibility of our book becoming theoretically obsolete in a only short period of time...That work brought about plenty of interesting discoveries and sometimes surprising results and the author shares with pleasure all these with the readers.
A word of caution, though... Do not rely on an immediate win even after applying some quite surprising idea. Be ready to counter a tough resistance from your opponent. The super-solid Caro-Kann Defence has a respectable reputation to live up to!
Content
Part 1. 1.e4 c6 2.d4
010 1 various without 2...d5 and 2...g6
018 2 2...g6 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Bg7; 4...d5
034 3 2...g6 3Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 d5 5.e5 without 5...h5
046 4 2...g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5
068 5 2...d5 3.Nc3 various without 3...dxe4 and 3...g6
076 6 2...d5 3.Nc3 g6
Part 2. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 various; 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6
094 7 rare lines; 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6 exf6
106 8 5...gxf6 6.c3 various; 6.Bf5 7.Nf3 without 7...Nd7
125 9 5...gxf6 6.c3 Bf5 7.Nf3 Nd7
Part 3. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5
137 10 various without 5...Ndf6 and 5...Ngf6
148 11 5...Ndf6
160 12 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 without 6...e6
170 13 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 without 7...Bd6
179 14 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 without 10...Nf6
199 15 5...Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.Nf3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6 9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Nf6
Part 4. Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3
219 16 7...Nf6; 7...e6
243 17 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bf4 without 11...Nf6
255 18 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.Ne4 without 13...Ngf6; 12...Ngf6 13.Ne4 without 13...0-0-0
264 19 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nc5
278 20 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nxe4 15.Qxe4 Be7; 15...Bd6
289 21 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Ngf6 13.Ne4 0-0-0 14.g3 Nxe4 15. Qxe4 Nf6
299 22 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 without 12...Be7
310 23 7...Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Qc7 11.Bd2 e6 12.0-0-0 Be7
Part 5. Scandinavian Defence
1.e4 d5 2.exd5
323 24 2...Nf6
330 25 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 without 3...Qa5
338 26 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5
350 Index of Variations