A Caro-Kann Player's Nightmare · Road to GM, Game 213

[@conorharan582]

Thank you for the consistent content!

[@andrewwardle5849]

Stjepan I get something from all of your games. Love your content. 2000 here we come!

[@comrademccready75]

I have learned a lot from your videos. Thank You!

[@xlewusx]

14:14 White can 1. Rfa1 Ng6 2. Bc6 Qc6 3. Ra8 Qa8 4. Ra8 Ka8 and white can 5. Qe4 (takes back knight) or Qa6 with draw option

[@aydc6740]

my favorite and the best chess youtuber

[@rumaulia2709]

Stjepan, have you ever considered playing the Tartakower? Karpov CK seems to allow more options where white still retain their first move advantage while the Tartakower or Classical is somewhat more forcing

[@ChessHoodie]

I think that 4...Bf5 is more fitting to his style, but in the end he has to decide

[@ShawnChess]

The Tartakower is a sound and very very fighting option. I think the tartakower is more in line with Stjepans style, He likes to attack, to know the plans and to have sharp tactical play. Look at his Sicilian games. Or the way he plays with E4. He plays the London not to get equality but to attack. Also the theory to learn with Nf6 is so small and you can easily out prepare your opponent’s.

[@harryhawkins9278]

Exactly what I was thinking!!

[@christianhumphreys1049]

I checked in the lichess database: after 6. Bd3 86 masters have played g6 (instead of e6) and scored 31%black wins and 29% draws. Maybe this can be considered as stronger for black. As black I hate the lines where you dont get out with the white-colored bishop, g6 avoids this

[@davidmikan7925]

How can it be stronger if according to your math white wins in 40% of games and black only in 31%?

[@johnmorphy5435]

G6 is better than E6 is what he is saying. Not that G6 is better for black

[@narayananbaradwaj8906]

Maybe try out the tartakower instead of Karpov?

[@lellul1749]

Yeah I love to play the Tartakower

[@dkpandey1996]

That was a high level game. Very interesting.

[@gokselacekabarace5863]

Thanks 👍👍👍

[@loucovarrido4205]

Have you heard about the seirawan variation in this Ng5 line? Playing with, e6 and Be7 before Nf6

[@bongolethuncethelo9684]

Good game 😎

[@d4player764]

Well, Nd7 is out of fashion. Bf5 and Nf6 are the main lines.

[@nonebelievingbeliever3753]

After night × e4... Chess network plays h6, knight f3, bishop f5... For me it's a solid line... But I've never played it in a slow game but it breaks the monotony of known lines... Apparently h6 was played by alpha zero chess network says

[@JAndrioli]

Ne7 -- SF gave +8.2 at depth 32 and leela +9.4 at 11. Incredible how awful that move is

[@sgrey9181]

Stjepan, perhaps you would consider kf1 and Rg1 instead of kingside castling? Not sure whether it works better but I would imagine the rook is better placed for the defense of your king side, and then hopefully the resulting weakening of your opponent’s position is enough for you to push for advantage

[@swift8821]

Hahahaha. Nice draw.

[@salovamrani2084]

"Even engine wouldn't survive this", lets go play this position against stockfish, you will lose 100%

[@tyrelljeffries2527]

What I hate facing as a Caro Kahn player is the Nunn-Shirov attack

[@federicoguerrero7365]

Then do not play 4...e6, and instead play 4...a6!

[@BRNRDNCK]

Algorithm

[@howardberger3676]

Know you love the Caro Kan,but it always seems your on the defensive....?

[@tweidig]

If you hate an opening line, then you need to face your fears / hatred and only practise this line, until you feel in control of it and love it!

[@itskmillz]

This is not sound advice, if a line doesn't suit your playstyle and you can play one that is objectively just as good and better for your playstyle you should opt for that one.

[@tweidig]

1) As he said himself: play this against me because I hate it. So you suggest he should leave a hole in his repertoire and then be exposed to it? 2) If he really wants to become a grandmaster, he needs to explore everything and not run away from uncomfortable positions for him. And it will be highly instructive for him to understand better why he hates it and what one can do to make it better for him. He will learn more about himself.

[@KrishK8055]

Darpok

[@stanaklol]

This is why I play the Korchnoi

[@thinboxdictator6720]

so big brother almost avenged his sister from round one :)

[@spd7693]

That's why I always play 4... Bf5. If I ever play the Caro-Kann, I usually play Sicilian against 1. e4. At some point I also played French, but I eventually settled for Sicilian. For the same reason I also avoid some Sicilian variations like the Scheveningen - because I'm kinda afraid of the Keres Attack - and the Nijdorf - because IMO the Adams Attack simply refutes it. Usually I go for (Accellerated) Dragon - similar to King's Indian, which I play against 1. d4 - and Paulsen/Kan, because of its flexibility.

[@zoichi_kanoe6227]

Najdorf refuted and dragon similar to king's Indian 😂😂😂

[@Bronek0990]

@@zoichi_kanoe6227 MVL always plays refuted defenses. That's why he isn't World Champion yet

[@felipemasas]

@@zoichi_kanoe6227 haha id give him a pass for KID and Dragon Sicilian being similiar ( at least he has a point there in terms of pawn structure on king side which is pretty much the same). But Najdor being refuted... thats a big LOL

[@zoichi_kanoe6227]

@@felipemasas well, you don't get anything like the Yugoslav in the KID and you don't get a closed center in the dragon, this makes the openings very different..they have in common only the fianchetto

[@felipemasas]

@@zoichi_kanoe6227 for sure. They are after all completely different openings. But compared to "najdgorf being refuted" all i know Dragon and KID might be the same thing