Wwqlcw wrote on 06/06/17 at 01:03:03:


Both DVD's are excellent, good enough that I feel confident enough to try the Caro from time to time with Black. A nice balance was struck between explanatory prose and theoretical detail covering both historically relevant and currently trendy lines.

After watching the DVD's I had a clearer understanding of why the Advance variation has become the mainline of the Caro. Curiously the rise of the Advance variation is not so much due to its inherent strength, but rather the lack of success White has been having in recent years with the Classical variation. 

Also worthy of note is his recipe against the line suggested by John Shaw in Playing 1.e4 which looks to be quite effective, in fact I had to re-check the book to see if I had missed something, but sadly I had not as in a small note to move six on page 110 Shaw says this: Quote '6...Qa5+ with the idea of ...Qa6 has also been played, although not by GMs yet. 7.Nd2 e6 I like White after 8.Ngf3 intending 0-0 and c4, but I will not pretend that his advantage is anything special.' End Quote. I fully concur with Shaw's assessment except I would substitute 'I will not pretend that his advantage is anything special' with, I will not pretend he has any advantage at all.    

To sum up, the Caro (Specifically - Capa Variation) is becoming more popular at all levels and proving to be quite a major headache for White. All is not lost for the first player though, and I would recommend investigating further the Two Knights variation and the under-rated Exchange system as both lines still hold some promise to my eyes.

The ChessBase DVD, "The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2" by  Vidit Gujrathi, has been out for more than a month, but no one has even mentioned the topic here.  Has anyone taken a look?  Formed an opinion?