Chess Openings: Beating the Caro-Kann with Tricks and Traps
What you'll learn
- Be able to play important punishing tactical moves, tricks and traps against the Caro-Kann Defence Chess Opening
- Be able to to have a wide variety of systems and ideas to try out against the Caro-Kann which match your personality and needs and other factors
- Be able to see early tactical combinations in the Caro-Kann defence that often can even be against natural looking moves
- Be able to nickname yourself "The Caro-Kann Punisher" if you fully understand all the examples given :)
- Be able to see the range of tactics early on in a chess game against the Caro-Kann defence and see that is not that solid depending on specific circumstances
- Be able to assess "solidity" especially in regard to where bishops are neglecting key squares
- Be able to play stunning tactics and combinations and understand more the basis for their very existence
- Be able to get a better grip on the downsides that cause tactics, tricks and traps to be successful or not
- Be able to understand more the philosophies behind great chess tactics, tricks and traps
- Be able to get a firmer grip on the basics of winning chess and practice your forcing move awareness as well as downside awareness of the opponent's position
- Be able to get a variety of different Caro-Kann opening variations and moves to try out for fun and improved results
- Be able punish "suspicious" looking moves as they create subtle "scents of downsides" which your sense of smell should improve dramatically
- Be able to replace more your routine habitual moves with more "punishing" moves right in the Opening when the opponent may still be asleep or in auto-pilot mode
- Be able to experience a wide variety of variations against the Caro-Kann Defence getting awareness of specific downsides to punish in specific ways
- Be able to play the Advance variation knowing a great set of model games and practice as a side effect the e5 pawn chain structure
- Be able to play the Panov-Botvinnik attack knowing a great set of model games and as a side effect experience the benefits of the Isolated Queen's pawn
- Be able to play the "Fantasy" variation knowing a great set of model games and as a side effect see the benefits and power of a semi-open f-file
- Be more comfortable in general with the pawn structures of the key variations of the course and the tactical implications they provide
- Be able to tackle the main-line variation of the Caro-Kann with greater confidence knowing a great set of model games
- Be able to use a number of surprising and effective sidelines to avoid the opponent's preparation resources and try and get opponent's to have to improvise
- Be able to use the Goldman variation with great effect blowing the opponent's king wide open if they blunder early
- Be able to play against against the Korchnoi variation (exf6) with more confidence knowing a great set of model games
- Be able to play against the Bronstein-Larsen (gxf6) with more confidence knowing a great set of model games
- Be able to see the distinguishing power of the accelerated Panov Attack - early c4 with great model games
- Be able to employ the Von Hennig Gambit which can really help destroy opponent's quickly and effectively especially the greedier opponents
Requirements
- Knows the basic rules of chess and how the pieces move
Description
The Caro-Kann chess opening (1.e4 c6) has become a very popular opening of choice for players playing against 1.e4 and can be a tough nut to crack. Several leading influencers have proposed the Caro-Kann in recent years increasing its usage massively online and at higher levels of play. Many players see it as a solid alternative to the French defence (1.e4 e6) but without having the so-called "bad bishop" issue. It can often lead to better endgames for black given it is structurally solid. This course shows how you can often smash the Caro-Kann in the early stages of a game or achieve a lasting advantage after the opening phase.
Winning quickly in chess is a very practical skill to have for conserving energy and time. The classic book "The Art of War" indicates that the good fighter wins with ease. If you can with ease, you can have more energy and enthusiasm for your next round game - and in serious chess, this can mean also more time preparing for the next round opponent the next day. In online chess tournaments for the "all, you can eat" tournaments, being able to win quickly can help you win a lot more tournaments or come in the top 3 or top 10 players in the end.
A number of different variations of the Caro-Kann are explored from the White perspective including:
Classical Variation: 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5
Modern aka Karpov Variation: 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7
Bronstein–Larsen Variation: 5...gxf6
Korchnoi Variation: 5...exf6
Gurgenidze Variation: 3.Nc3 g6
Advance Variation: 3.e5
Exchange Variation: 3.exd5 cxd5
Main line: 4.Bd3
Panov–Botvinnik Attack: 4.c4
Tartakower or Fantasy Variation: 3.f3
Two Knights Variation: 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 (or 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3)
Going through the tricks and traps and quick zaps will also help improve your tactical understanding of pawn structures in relation to King placement and piece placement. Thus helping reinforce intuition for specific principles of playing against the Caro-Kann to achieve great advantages from the Opening.
Who this course is for:
- Beginner to Intermediate Chess players
Instructor
![Tryfon Gavriel](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 64 64"%3E%3C/svg%3E){kind=avatar}
- 4.7 Instructor Rating
- 1,530 Reviews
- 6,799 Students
- 22 Courses
Tryfon Gavriel, also known as "Kingscrusher" on the Internet. I am a FIDE Candidate Master (CM), British Regional Chess Master, and run a popular Youtube channel for many years with over 114k+ Subs as of 2021 and a Silver Button Award.
I have done many shows on commercial chess servers. I am also the Webmaster of the correspondence style chess server Chessworld which emphasizes game quality and research.
Playing experience
Over 35 years of playing activity both online and offline. Peak ICC blitz rating of 2625 (18-Jun-1999). Peak ICC 5 min auto-pairing of 2383 (29-Jun 2012). ECF Grading peak classical: 212 (A) ECF. Peak Rapid rating: 217 (C). Lichess marathon top 10 finishers in 3 marathons so far. In the other two, top 50 finishers. Won quite a few tournaments at lichess
One of my earliest Over-the-board achievements in Chess was winning the Lloyds Under 18 national UK tournament in 1989. My trophy was awarded to me by Grandmaster and Ph.D. Mathematician Dr John Nunn.
Teaching experience
I have done teaching in Schools and also have done teaching online with several Lichess students on a regular basis, and have a very good coaching rating at lichess.
Other experiences
Played twice in the main British Chess championship. Many of my Youtube viewers claim big rating increases after watching my videos.
Best skills
I particularly love chess tactics and combinations, and it is probably no accident that my "Complete Guide to Chess Tactics" has been a best-seller since near inception here at Udemy.
In general, I will try and give you greater enthusiasm for the game and in particular the dynamic aggressive tactical aspects of playing chess. My favorite heroes are Paul Morphy, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and Mikhail Tal. if you want to be a dynamic aggressive player, I may be able to encourage you and find you relevant resources on that path. The dynamic aggressive were particularly strong tactically and would often trade off pawn structure neatness and material to try and checkmate the opponent's kings. Checkmate does win the game :)
Chess Openings
In terms of concrete openings to make use of potentially teaching here at Udemy through courses, I like Solid openings on such as the London System. I also like provocative openings like the Knight's Tango systems to encourage weaknesses from opponents. I am also at faster time controls especially, particularly fond of aggressive openings and gambits. As an example, the Smith-Morra Gambit vs the Sicilian Defence, and other gambits can be used aggressively even with the black pieces such as the Albin Counter Gambit. Gambits vary of course in soundness and it is important to teach what "ticks many boxes" for use in various time controls. In the search for the ideal courses to provide you, I like to search within myself for my core strengths and passions within the passion of Chess.
I truly hope you enjoy my courses and they improve your chess and your enjoyment of chess generally - and life generally :)