Black Repertoire against e4

After studying some Caro-Kann opening theory and seen how intuitive it is for my style, I've decided to build a dedicated repertoire. HangingPawns youtube channel was extremely helpful with assembling this. Here's a playlist.


Caro-Kann Defense - Mainline

1.  e4  c6 
2.  d4  d5

The most common third moves for white are:
         3. e5  (21.3k games)
         3. Nc3  (16.9k games)
         3. exd5  (13.3k games)
         3. Nd2  (10.1k games)
         3. f3  (1.7k games)

 I’ll cover each of these in order.


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Advanced
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  e5  Bf5
4.  Nf3  e6
5.  Be2  Nd7

-You must avoid getting the LSB trapped in, so don’t play e6 too early. I’ve done it too many times and it’s uncomfortable. That’s why 3. ...Bf5 is played early.
-I’ve seen 4. f4 e6 5. g4??  and I missed it but 5. ...Qh4+ is winning. 6. Kd2 (Ke2 Bxg4+) Be4 7. Nf3 Qf2+ 8. Qe2 Qxf3
-If 4. Nc3 e6 and it’s equal. White can try the Van der Wiel Attack with 5. g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 (trying for Nf4) c5 seeking counter-play 7. h4 h5 8. Nf4 Bh7 9. Nxh5 cxd4 10. Nb5 Nc6 11. Nxd4. White has a misplaced knight and d5 is weak as are a5 diagonals to the white king.
-If 4. Bxd3, that’s fine because black usually wants to get rid of his LSB because it’s staring at nothing after Bf5. So black is okay to trade bishops after 4. Bd3 Bxd3 5. Qxd3 e6.
-The aggressive Tal Variation starts with 4. h4 h5 (...e6? 5. g4 and bishop is soon trapped) 5. c4 e6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Nge2 Nd7. Qb3 might come from white and Qb6 will make a queen trade which is common. The DSB is the problem piece for black in these lines usually. Look to trade it off.
-Another sideline is 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. c5 Qxb3 8. axb3. Black has a horrible DSB again and white is kinda prepping a minority attack on the queenside. c6 is weak for black.
-5. Be2 is clearly just to castle, black plays Nd2 to help with the ...c5 push
-If 5. Nc3? Nd7 and black might castle long.
-Wikipedia mentioned a popular game by Kann using his eponymous opening: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Bd3 Bxd3 5.Qxd3 e6 6.f4 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.Nf3 Qb6 9.0-0 Nh6 10.b3 cxd4 11.cxd4 Nf5 12.Bb2 Rc8 13.a3 Ncxd4 14.Nxd4 Bc5 15.Rd1 Nxd4 16.Bxd4 Bxd4+ 17.Qxd4 Rc1 18.Kf2 Rxd1 19.Qxb6 axb6 20.Ke2 Rc1 21.Kd2 Rg1 22.g3 Kd7 23.a4 Rc8 24.b4 Rcc1 0-1
-And this: Nimzo vs Capa 1927 http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1007846
-This gives white the biggest advantage if played properly with a lot more space and piece activity. Black needs to play c5 in this opening to activate his pieces. After 4. Nf3 e6, black has the plan to later get c5 in and Nd7 and Ne7. It continues 5. Be2 Nd7 6. 0-0 Ne7 7. Nbd2 h6. It’s the “starting position of the Short Variation.” Black’s ideas playing Qc7, 0-0-0 and pawnstorming on the kingside. Black can also play solid and tuck the bishop on h7. Or after 8. Nb3 g5! to play aggressively. Also, a point of Ne7 could be, if ever the LSB was taken on f5, to re-take with knight and it’s a strong piece.
-After 3. ...Bf5 4. Nc3 e6 5. g4 Bg6 6. Nge2 (threat: Nf4) c5 7. h4 h5 (sacrificing a pawn. h6 is too passive) 8. Nf4 Bh7 9. Nxh5 cxd4 10. Nb5 Nc6. This is the starting position of this “old” way of playing the Advanced variation.
-A common theme in this Short Variation is to weaken defense of the e5 pawn by eventually playing ….c5, even playing Bg7 or f6 to hit it.


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Classical
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  Nc3  dxe4
4.  Nxe4  Bf5
5.  Ng3  Bg6
6.  h4  h6
7.  Nf3  Nd7

-If white doesn’t takej back on e4, black can probably play 4. ...Nf6 5. f3 b5! and black is better here.
-If 5. Nc5 e5! 6. Nxb7 Qb6 7. Nc5 Bxc5 8. dxc5 Qxc5 and black is way ahead in development.
-If 5. Qf3 e6
-Move 6, white has several options. Besides the mainline, white could play Nh3, Nf3, Bc4, N1e2.
-If 6. Nh3 (Flohr variation) you have to give up the bishop and develop, don’t try to save it. Play like this: 6. ...e6 7. Nf4 Bd6 8. h4 (c3 is actually best) (Nxg6 hxg6 and rook is open)  Qc7 9. Nxg6 (9. h5? Bxc2 10. Qxc2 Bxf4 winning a pawn) hxg6. Here black is hitting g3 twice, and the h4 pawn is a weakness. In this line, after 7. ...Bd6 white could play 8. Nh5 hitting g7 so 8. ...Bxh5 9. Nxh5 g6 10. Ng3 (Ng7 Kf8). Black has weakened dark squares for now but development is equal and both sides have things to play for.
-If 6. Nf3 e6 7. Bd3 c5! 8. c3 Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Nf6 and black has a great position and will castle long.
-If 6. N1e2 e6 and will probably transpose to Flohr
-If 6. Bc4 e6 7. c3 Bd6 8. Nh5 Bxh5 9. Qxh5 Nd7 Qe2 Ngf6 Nf3 and a nice normal caro pawn structure but you must stop the d5 push from white.
-If 6. Nf3 Nd7 and if 7. h4 comes it might translate to the variation provided.
-If 6. Be3 or Bd3???
-A rare 6th move from a note in chessgames.com: 6. f4! e6 is fine from black.
-6. ...h5 should not be played because it will always be weak. 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 e6 10. Bf4 Qa5+ 11. c3 Ngf6 12. 0-0 Be7 13. Ng5 and black is losing here.
-7. ...Nf6? 8. Ne5 gives white lots of activity because Qb3 or Qf3 (with Nh5) are threats, or Bc4 and Qe2 as well.
-If 8. Ne5 Nxe5 9. dxe5 is good for black because you can trade queens white’s king is in the center without castling rights.
-There’s a good chance white will trade light-squared bishops with Bd3 at some point, like in the Spassky Variation which is also considered the mainline I think: 8. h5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 is the most common continuation. White says he’s better developed but is also weak on the kingside. White’s pawn on h5 looks like a good attacker but it can prove to be a weakness in an endgame.
-From this position after the Spassky Variation, black needs to develop. White will surely not castle kingside. The mainline follows 11. Bf4 Qa5+ 12. Bd2 Bb4 13. c3 Be7 14. c4 Qc7. And here it’s cool because black effectively played two moves (Be7 and Qc7) but forced white to play three weakening moves (c3, c4 and Bd2). Mainline continues 15. 0-0-0 Ngf6 16 Kb1 0-0. This is the starting position of the mainline—meaning this is the result of the best moves engine-wise and theory-wise. As far as white is concerned, the h5 pawn is over-extended, the knight on g3 is pretty useless and it will have to probably exchange off for black’s f6 knight, but then this activates black’s other knight to f6. White will also need to spend some moves to prepare a kingside pawn storm whereas black has b5 and a5 moves ready to go.
-White can also play 11. Be2 a5 is good for black and a4 coming and b5 coming.


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Exchange
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  exd5  cxd5
4.  Bd3  Nc6
5.  c3  Nf6
6.  Bf4  Bg4
7.  Qb3  Qd7

-Very passive for white
-White’s fourth move is actually second most common among masters. The most common is the Panov Attack (see next section) which follows 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nf3 Bb4. It often leads to IQP positions, with white obtaining rapid development, a grip on e5, and kingside attacking chances to compensate for the long-term structural weakness of the pawn.
-4. Bd3 tries to capture control of a key diagonal
-If 4. Nf3 Nc6
-If 4. c3 it should probably transpose. BLack should try to get that key diagonal though, so he plays 4. ...Bf5 5. Bd3? Bxd3 6. Qxd3 e6 and black is fine, and the b5 square isn’t a problem like it can be. Instead, white should play 5. Qb3 Qd7 6. Nf3 Nc6 and it’s now a normal position that should transpose to the main exchange line with a slightly better bishop for black.
-If 4. Bf4 Bf5 and it’s kinda an improved london system for black since black has two central pawns to one.
-If 5. Nf3 Bg4
-7. ...Qd7 helps defend everything. It can follow 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bxf3. Black’s LSB is kinda a bad piece so it’s okay to trade it, and that knight going to e5 is a big threat, with white’s other knight coming to f3 to help defend it. So now if 10. Nxf3, Ne5 from white isn’t quite the same threat because black can just take it with his knight and things are neutralized. 10. ...Bd6 11. Bxd6 Qxd6 12. Qxd7? 0-0 and black should be able to re-gain the b2 pawn (I guess with Rb8?). Yeah he says black gets major initiative in the position with Rab8, Rfc8, Ne4 opening the position with black’s king in the center, etc. The starting position ends with 13. 0-0. Black has a plan to play a6 then b5 and b4. White’s only good break is f4-f5 so they might move their knight out and try for that.
-Wikipedia source says some of the strategic ideas in the Caro-Kann Exchange are analogous to the QGD-Exchange with colors reversed.
-In most exchange Caro-Kann positions, the main plan for black is usually to play g6 and Bg7 and Nf6. Black will have problems with checks on the a4-e8 diagonal.
-The Panov Attack, white is accepting an IQP but is disrupting black’s center.


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Panov Botvinnik Attack
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  exd5  cxd5
4.  c4  Nf6
5.  Nc3  e6
6.  Nf3  Bb4
7.  cxd5  Nxd5
8.  Bd2  Nc6
9.  Bd3  0-0
10.  0-0

-White strikes at black’s center immediately. White’s LSB diagonal and the Qa4+ are threats to black. Black is technically equalized after white’s fourth move but you need to know it.
-The most common 4th move from black is ...Nf6 but ...g6 and ...e6 are possible.
-5. h3 is possible to stop pieces coming to g4 but it’ll probably transpose to the mainline.
-5. Nf3 g6 6. Qb3 Bg7 7. cxd5 0-0 (Qxd5? 8. Bc4)
-5. ...e6 is the mainline and it seems passive but it lets black castle and the bishop shouldn’t be fianchetto’d in this line. Usually it wants to come to b4 to pin the knight.
-At the end of the variation, white has an IQP but it’s doing a lot but it could become a weakness. In the position, black doesn’t want to play ...Bxc3 because bxc3 reinforces. If black’s knight on d5 is ever taken, you can certainly take back with pawn and concede in the center, with both sides having an IQP, but you might want to try to take back with a knight. Like if immediately white plays Nxd5 black could try Ne7 in some positions, so that you can play Nd5 and blockade with a powerful piece. Not always possible though. White has much more active bishops in this position so black doesn’t have attacking prospects.
-A common continuation is 10. ...Be7 (knight isn’t pinned anymore so the bishop isn’t doing anything) 11. a3 Bf6 12. Qc2 g6 13. Bh6 Re8
-For black, a more active choice however is 5. ...Nc6 6. Bg5 Be6. If white takes on f6 you play exf6 and you have the bishop pair and better position. The reason 6. ...Be6 is possible is because white’s bishop is taking the g5 square where the knight would like to be to dislodge black’s LSB. Furthermore, white’s knight isn’t on f3 and so it cannot come to Ng5 to dislodge black’s bishop on d6. The line continues 7. a3 Qd7 8. Be2 Rd8 9. Bxf6 exf6 10. c5 Be7. White wants to push b4 and b5 and create a passed pawn on the queenside but black has a lot of initiative in the center, the bishop pair, and a safer king.


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Modern  (transposes to classical)
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  Nd2  dxe4
4.  Nxe4  Bf5

-As I play it, it transposes into the Classical variation.
-The Modern Variation is actually 4. ...Nd7, delaying the bishop move but I’m going for easy to remember repertoire so adding in another line when it’s not necessary is silly. Anyway, a cool mating trap in that line is: 4. ...Nd7 5. Qe2 Nf6? 6. Nd6#
-White has no other good fourth moves, but if they try something like 4. c3 Nf6 is good for black.
-4. Nb3? e6 and black is much better.


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Fantasy/Tartakower
1.  e4  c6
2.  d4  d5
3.  f3  Qb6

-This is also called the Maroczy. With 3. f3 white is supporting the center with a pawn which is less common in the Caro-Kann. The line HangingPawns gives is 3. ...dxe4 4. fxe4 e5 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Bc4 Nd7 7. c3 and this is the starting position.
-In this line, white’s e-h4 diagonal is very weak and there are always tactics to watch for.


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Rare second moves from white

1. e4  c6
2. d4  is the most common second move (64k games), but white may make other moves:

          2. Nc3  (5.5k games)
          2. c4  (3.8k games)
          2. d3  (2.3k games)
          2. Nf3  (2.0k games)
          2. Bc4  (14 games! It’s not popular among masters but I’ll include it since I’ve seen it)

I’ll cover those more in depth right now, but the short answer is that black should play 2. ...d5 every time anyway! Also note that these often lead to transpositions to more mainline Caro-Kann formations. Nc3 is a move in the Classical, and c4 the Panov so when you see those, be prepared for transposing. Here’s an example of each of those lines in order of popularity:


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Two Knights Variation
1.  e4  c6
2.  Nc3  d5
3.  Nf3  Bg4
4.  h3  Bxf3
5.  Qxf3  e6

-White may also switch around the two knight moves and it won’t matter.
-White will have rapid development of pieces.
-If 3. d4 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 which transposes into the classical variation.
-If 3. Qf3, black can try to play for tempo on the queen: 3. ...dxe4 4. Nxe4 (Qxe4 Nf6) Nf6 5. Nxf6 exf6 6. Bc4 Nd7 (threatening Ne5)
-If 4. Be2 e6
-If 5. gxf3 still play e6 to bring bishop out
-A simple tactic in this line to watch out for: 6. d4 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Qxe4 8. Bg5 Qxb2? 9. Rd1! and black is gonna have to be careful. Simple solution is don’t take the pawn on b2 on move 8!
-Magnus won a game in this line against Hikaru. He exchanged both his bishops actually.


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Accelerated Panov Attack
1.  e4  c6
2.  c4  d5
3.  exd5  cxd5
4.  cxd5  Nf6

-The idea is to clamp down on d5 but black plays it anyway. If white takes twice there then that pawn is incredibly weak. Black shouldn’t take back with the queen though because it allows Nc3, which is development with tempo. Your basic goal in this as black is to develop and play against white’s weak pawn structure.
-if 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 (4. e5 Nc6) Nf6 same as the given variation.
-if 4. d4 Nf6 is fine and transposes into the regular Panov Attack.
-if something stupid like 4. Nf3 d4 is good for black, even playing 5. ...e5 maybe and gambiting a pawn because 6. Nxe5 Bd6.


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The Breyer Variation
1.  e4  c6
2.  d3  d5
3.  Nd2  e5
4.  Ngf3  Bd6

-Wikipedia source calls this ineffective or doubtful.
-3. Nf3 is the better move but not by much. If that’s played, 3. ...dxe4 4. dxe4 Qxd1 and maybe black can play g6 and Bg7. It’s an equal middlegame.
-3. ...e5 gives black a great center.


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1.  e4  c6
2.  Nf3  d5
3.  Nc3  Bg4
4.  h3  Bxf3
5.  Qxf3  e6

-This transposes into the Two Knights variation from above so see those notes.
- If 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Ne5 (Apocalypse Attack) Nf6


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Here's a line I saw in a game on lichess: https://lichess.org/nzKQmlw2/black#0

1  e4  c6
2  Nf3  d5
3  exd5  cxd5
4  d4  Bg4
5  h3  Bxf3
6  Qxf3  e6
7  Bd3  Nf6
8  O-O  Bd6

-I misplayed it in the game so just follow this along if an early Nf3...I like getting the LSB out.


The Hillbilly Attack
1.  e4  c6
2.  Bc4  d5
3.  exd5  cxd5

-Carlsen evidently beat So in a game in 2017 with it in an opposite-color bishop ending.
-I faced this three or four times in a row on lichess and chess.com on 3/28
-One game followed 1. e4 c6  2. Bc4 d5  3. exd5 cxd5  4. Bb3 Bf5 5. d3? (5. d4 e6 is best) , and black should play e6.
-Another followed 1. e4 c6 2. Bc4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bb5+ (second best move after Bb3) Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Nxd7 6. Nc3 (Nf3 is better) Ngf6 7. d4 e6 8. Nge2 Bb4. 8. ...Rc8 is best but black is better either way.


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