Karo Kan

Caro-Kann: A Lifetime Repertoire It is with great joy that I introduce the reader to the Caro-Kann Defence. World Champions like Anatoly Karpov and Mikhail Botvinnik played the Caro throughout their entire career, which should serve as a stamp of approval to make it our Lifetime Repertoire. I, Erwin l'Ami from the Netherlands, have been a grandmaster since 2005 and a professional chess player ever since. My most notable tournament victory was the 2015 edition of the Reykjavik Open and, dating back to 2006, I have been a member of the Dutch Olympiad team. But I am perhaps better known for my work as a second. A second helps another player come to the game as best prepared as possible. That means opening work, and a lot of it! For about three years I was part of Veselin Topalov’s team and the memories around Topalov’s 2010 World Championship match against Vishy Anand I still cherish to this day - despite the result! These days, I regularly help Anish Giri who is arguably the best prepared player in the world. Without doubt, the work for this course greatly corresponds with the work I have been doing as a second. Engines Engines changed the world of chess - and I will bypass the discussion whether they did in a good or bad way ( bad, obviously ) . As an ambitious 17 y.o. International Master I bought my first computer, at the time - state of the art. It had four whooping processors and I was proudly running the program Junior 6, which was hugely aggressive and would suggest the most ludicrous sacrifices. Developments have been rapid since those days and my phone would now defeat my sophisticated computer with disappointing ease. Just two years ago, the latest engine revolution hit the chess world when Google introduced its AlphaZero ( A0 ) , which demolished the top program Stockfish 8 with considerable ease. A0 uses a neural network to play the game of chess which was a novelty in the world of chess engines. An open source project, based on Google’s technique, started soon after and nowadays Leela Zero ( Lc0 ) can be used by any chess fan across the globe. The difference with Lc0 and Stockfish is that the former has incredible instincts, while the later calculates incredibly well. When using these two engines in the preparation of this course, Lc0 pointed out a multitude of new directions. The combination is the perfect analysis tool. The process Given the special times we live in I - like the majority of world’s population - spent most of my days indoors for the past few months. That gave me the opportunity to submerge myself into this project like I have never done before. I have quite literally woken up and fallen asleep with this course in mind. At times I thought the finishing line would never be in sight! You can be certain: the responsibility of handling a repertoire that lasts a lifetime is one I take very seriously! This is also a good moment to thank my wife Alina for the enormous contributions she has made in the creation of this course. Quick Pointers The course obviously covers the entire Caro-Kann, meaning all of White’s possibilities after 1.e4 c6. In two cases I have decided to give an alternative as well. Since this is a Lifetime Repertoire I think it’s a good idea to be able to switch things around. That’s why in the Advance Variation: @@StartFEN@@rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1@@EndFEN@@ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 I have covered the conventional 3...Bf5 , as well as the alternative 3...c5 ( Chapters1 -3. ) The same applies to the Classical Variation: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 where I, perhaps somewhat surprisingly to seasoned Caro-Kann players, have chosen 4...Nf6 as the main recommendation. At the same time, I covered themore popular 4...Bf5 as well and I leave it to the reader to decide which of the systems appeals more. I would recommend going through all the material before making that decision. Under the guidance of Lc0, the move4...Nf6 in the Classical Variation has truly undergone a metamorphosis! Everything related to the Classical Variation is covered in Chapters 4-8 and all other variations have gotten just one recommendation as they are not nearly as critical. I have tried to illustrate why I came to certain choices throughout the course and hope that I have been able to get those points across. Given the abundance of trainable lines, I have tried to limit the number of trainable moves, often cutting the line towards the end. That way I feel the course remains within acceptable boundaries. When going through the moves a bunch of arrows, circles and whatnot will appear on the board. I trust it will be easier when you just see it. A little guideline regarding the colours: yellow - indicates an idea for White red - points at something bad green - is used for Black's plans. Discussions & Updates Finally, I am very curious what you think of the course. I hope we will have a lively Discussion Forum and I am always ready to answer any questions you may have. It is my intention to regularly update the course since opening theory has this annoying tendency to always move forward! Now without further ado, I would invite you to the Quickstarter Guide in order to get a peek into what we will be doing in this course.