Play the Caro-Kann

282 Pages·2016·20.89 MB·English

by  Houska Jovanka.

First published in 2007 by Gloucester Publishers plc (formerly Everyman Publishers plc), Northburgh
House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT
Copyright © 2007 Jovanka Houska
The right of Jovanka Houska to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in
accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978 1 85744 796 5
Distributed in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.O Box 480,
246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480.
All other sales enquiries should be directed to Everyman Chess, Northburgh House,
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email: [email protected]; website: www.everymanchess.com
Everyman is the registered trade mark of Random House Inc. and is used in this work under licence
from Random House Inc.
To my parents and Arne, who gave me the inspiration to pursue my dreams.
Everyman Chess Series
Chief advisor: Byron Jacobs
Commissioning editor: John Emms
Assistant editor: Richard Palliser
Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton.
Cover design by Horatio Monteverde.
Contents
Bibliography
Introduction
1 Main Line: Introduction and 11 Bf4
2 Main Line: 11 Bd2
3 Main Line: 6 Bc4 and Early Deviations
4 Panov-Botvinnik Attack: Introduction and 6 Nf3
5 Panov-Botvinnik Attack: 6 Bg5
6 Exchange Variation
7 Advance Variation with 3 ... c5: Introduction
8 Advance Variation: 3 ... c5 4 dxc5
9 Fantasy Variation
10 Panov’s Little Brother: 2 c4
11 Two Knights Variation
12 King’s Indian Attack
13 Unusual Lines and the Plain Bizarre
Index of Variations
Bibliography
Books
Beating the Caro-Kann
, Vasilios Kotronias (Batsford 1994)
Caro-Kann Defence: Advance Variation and Gambit Systems, Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Podgaets
(Batsford 2006)
Caro-Kann Defence: Panov Attack, Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Podgaets (Batsford 2006)
Easy Guide to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack, Jacob Aagaard (Everyman Chess 1998)
How to Play the King’s Indian Attack, Angus Dunnington (Batsford 1993)
Main Line Caro-Kann, Neil McDonald (Everyman Chess 2001)
Play the Caro-Kann (2nd edition), Egon Varnusz (Maxwell MacMillan Chess 1991)
Starting Out: The Caro-Kann, Joe Gallagher (Everyman Chess 2002)
The Classical Caro-Kann, Gary Kasparov and Aleksander Shakarov (Batsford 1984)
Winning with the Caro-Kann Defence, Jeremy Silman (Chess Digest 1993)
Periodicals, Databases and Websites
Chess Informant 1-96
ChessBase Magazine
ChessPublishing.com (1 e4 ... section: Alexander Volzhin, Nigel Davies and Andrew Martin)
Correspondence Database 2006
Mega Database 2006
MegaCorr 4
New in Chess Magazine
New in Chess Yearbooks 1-81
Introduction
My own experience with the Caro-Kann began when I was a child. My father, a club player, decided it
was about time I started playing something mainstream so he introduced me to the opening. In his
own inimitable style he elatedly said: ‘After 1 e4, play 1 ... c6 – it’s a win!’ However, it was, I must
come clean, the Caro-Kann with little Houska twists: some actually very good ideas; others well, a
little unique ...
After showing me the moves 2 d4 d5 3 exd5, he paused. Unable to contain the excitement in his
voice, he animatedly stated: ‘And now Black should play the very strong 3 ... Qxd5!’ A few years later, I
tried to persuade him that maybe it wasn’t such a good thing to give the centre away so easily, but my
father could not be swayed and continued on his mission to convince everyone to play this idea (even top
grandmasters were not immune from such advice!). So after a while, I laid the Caro to rest, consigning it
as a relic of the past, and began investigating other openings. However, my interest was reawakened in
my late teens when I needed something simple but logical that could give me reasonable winning chances.
History of the Opening
It was two German players, Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann, who introduced this defence during the
second half of the nineteenth century. At the time, chess was very much in its ‘Romantic’ stage; a time
when it was rude not to accept sacrifices, and gambits were all the rage. Unsurprisingly, the Caro-Kann
did not find too many adherents but as the concepts of positional chess developed, people began
appreciating the qualities of the opening: Black gets easy development of the pieces, clear plans with a
solid pawn structure, and safe but active play. Today, the Caro has a grand heritage with many great
players, including world champions – Botvinnik, Petrosian and most significantly Anatoly Karpov – using
it with great success. Modern advocates of the Caro include distinguished grandmasters such as Dautov,
Dreev, and Riazantsev, to name just a few. I fully advocate following the games of these players and
shamelessly copying what they play! After all, why not play the opening like a top grandmaster?!
Aims of the Caro-Kann
In the past, the Caro-Kann has been much maligned for being dry and boring, or simply a drawish
opening. However, the fundamental aim of the opening is to achieve full development and then begin
active play to challenge White’s space advantage. There are many sides to the Caro and one should not
lose sight that at times it can be very sharp as well as positional.
The whole premise of 1 ... c6 is very much based on the logic that is also behind the French
Defence: with the first move Black gets ready to support the ... d7-d5 pawn advance. The advantage of 1
... c6 is that Black does not block the light-squared bishop on c8, but there is also a disadvantage in that
the important move ... c5 is not available to Black in most lines, at least not immediately. The centre is
usually filled with too much tension for Black to be able to spend two tempi achieving ... c5, and Black
must usually wait until he is fully developed before he can afford to expend another tempo in pushing the
c6-pawn one square further. There is one exception to this and that is in the Advance Variation (Chapters
7-8), the justification being that White has already eased the high tension in the centre by advancing the e-
pawn.
As I stated earlier, Black’s main aim is to complete development before beginning any active
operations (although of course there are some exceptions). However, when playing the opening, it is very
useful to keep in mind the following six factors. Some of them are clearly self-explanatory; others, I will
explain how they should be applied to the Caro-Kann directly.
The Centre
The centre is a very important feature of most openings and the Caro-Kann is no different. The nature of
the centre is flexible and dependent on the variation chosen by White: at times it can be full of high
tension, as in the Panov; relatively static, as in the Exchange Variation; or dynamic, as in an isolated
queen’s pawn (IQP) position. Black should always value the importance of the centre – especially the
four centre squares e4, e5, d4 and d5 – as it is such an important part of the game.
Open Lines
Again this is dependent on which variation is played, but as a very general point Black should be looking
to contest the central files, paying special attention to the pawn breaks ... c5 and ... e5, which place
pressure on the central square d4.
Piece Activity
This one is pretty simple: keep the pieces as active as possible!
Pawn Structure
Generally speaking Black has a good structure with pawns usually occupying light squares, the only
disadvantage being that to begin with Black’s structure does not control much space. One point to
understand is that if Black exchanges his light-squared bishop for a knight, he should very much play on
the dark squares and use the pawns as a light-square blockade.
Strong and Weak Squares
As a very rough guide, Black’s weakest point is the e5-square, as this is often utilized by a white knight to
commence an attack. A strong square for Black, if the pawn has been exchanged, is the d5-square; if the
d5-pawn remains then the c4- and e4-squares are potential strengths.
King safety
This actually consists of more than the basic rule of getting your king castled as soon as possible. In fact,
this concept is especially significant in cases where parties have castled on opposite sides. Here both
White and Black should be acutely aware that in terms of defence prevention is always better than cure.
The Modern Approach to the Caro-Kann
Since the introduction of computers, Black openings in general have taken some serious poundings and the
Caro-Kann is no exception. It has traditionally been perceived as a relatively simple if a little passive
system with Black only needing to know the underlying ideas. However, with the increasing amount of
theory the situation has become much more complicated. White players, no longer content with simply
playing a position as it is, have adopted two aggressive approaches: the first is to try to completely blast
Black off the board; the second, to try to force Black to ‘grovel’ for the draw in a chanceless position.
Unfortunately, it has become more and more necessary for players to have a deeper knowledge of the
theory, so I would suggest that readers make a real effort to understand the moves and ideas in the sharp
lines (Advance, Panov) and the Classical main lines, whilst simply learning some basic principles for the
lines which are known to be less dangerous for Black. In the latter case, having a positional understanding
will count for much more than simply memorizing variations.
My approach to the Book
I have very much tried to write this book exactly how I like books to be written – with plenty of
explanation of ideas and basic principles, along with some new theory! On the whole I have tended to
avoid lines where I feel Black only has the chance of playing for ‘two results’ (a loss or a draw) and
instead chosen lines with ‘three results’ on offer. Sometimes this has led to me, following in my dad’s
footsteps, adding little Houska twists. I have also steered away from very complicated positions where
Black is material up but his king is stranded in the centre; in my experience those positions are nerve-
wracking to play and most of them should be deeply studied – not something everyone has time to do. I
have used two computer engines to assist me in my analysis – the calm Rybka 2.1 and the over-excitable
Fritz 9.
I would like to give my thanks to Everyman Chess Publications, and in particular to Grandmaster
John Emms for helping me immeasurably, giving his advice and providing me with a volume of material
that I could not have done without.
Finally, to all Caro players out there: Good Luck!
Jovanka Houska,
Harrow,
February 2007
Chapter One
Main Line: Introduction and 11 Bf4
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3
One of the advantages of 3 Nc3 is that Black has no useful move other than 3 ... dxe4, allowing the
white knight to reach the central square e4 (3 ... g6 is a possibility but is more in the realm of the Modern
Defence than this book). It is because of this factor that the ‘Main Line’ (3 Nc3) is probably the real test
of the Caro-Kann. White neither goes all out for an attack, nor does he directly attempt to refute the whole
opening. Instead he tries to seize as much space as he can, concentrates on the centre where he has
superior chances, and uses the e5-square to restrain Black.
White has a similar move in 3 Nd2. Normally, and for the purposes of our repertoire, there is no
difference between this and 3 Nc3, as Black can simply exchange pawns on e4. However, I do feel that
the move 3 Nd2 allows Black some extra options: the main one is 3 ... g6 and, among others, there’s the
little-known move 3 ... Qb6.
The Capablanca Variation
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5
The Capablanca Variation (it’s often referred to as the Classical Variation) is the simplest and most
logical way to contest the centre. Black develops his bishop to a very natural square and at the same time
challenges White’s control of the e4-square. The downside to this move is that it gives White time to
seize the initiative and grab some kingside space.
5 Ng3 Bg6
White has used various methods over the years in the search for an advantage, and there has been a
steady evolution of this line. To begin with White attempted to obtain advantages through the greater
space obtained by the presence of the d4-pawn, the two bishops, and freer development. It was not until
later that more aggressive plans were formulated, in which White actively played for greater space and
greater central control. It was the former World Champion Boris Spassky who devised a new idea of
advancing the h-pawn to h5, cramping the black kingside, and for a while the Capablanca Variation
became synonymous with an inferior endgame. However, the evolution was not at all one-sided and there
were many advances for Black; as White became more aggressive, so did the second player.
The Centre
As with many openings, controlling the centre is a very important part of both the Black and White
strategy.
In the main line of the Capablanca Variation there is a continuous battle for all four squares: two of
the squares – d5 and e4 – Black should aim to control, whilst d4 is a target and the e5-square something
that Black should protect. This battle commences right from move three when White virtually forces