Hi.

I'd agree the Caro-Kann is quite varied in position types that can be reached.

Some things I can still think of would be learned in the Caro-Kann would be:
Colour complex play (Essentially black's solidity on the light squares is often an asset to be maintained, while undermining white on the dark squares is something to play for)
Queenside castling positions (I have the sense black can castle queenside in the Caro-Kann somewhat more frequently than in many other 1.e4 defenses, but I could be wrong here)
Playing against d4+e5 pawn chains in various forms (mostly from 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5)
Certain types of isolated queen's pawn positions (mostly from 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4)
Queenside minority attacks (from 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 and similar)

Have a nice day.

proustiskeen wrote on 12/09/25 at 17:05:36:

Only if we want to make it that.

Most people who learn the rules of chess only play a few games. Most people who stick with the game never join a club or study it seriously. Most club players never make it to expert. And so on. It's far easier to quit chess than it is to continue, and far, far easier to plateau than to improve. Accordingly, when I was coaching my number one priority was: don't kill the student's interest in the game. Telling beginners they have to play a certain opening if they want to become good seems like one more reason for them to quit. Beginners should play whatever opening interests them, and the coach should encourage that -- within limits.

At the club last night a very new player wanted to show me the ICBM gambit, but he was struggling to remember the moves. After 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 dxe4 3.Ng5 I played 3...Bf5 and he couldn't figure out what to do. "I'm supposed to play Bd3 but you prevented it." So I showed him the rest of the "trap": 3...Nf6 4.d3 exd3 5.Bxd3 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Bg6+. Yes! He was really excited by black hanging his queen. But this opening is bad enough that I did discourage him from playing it.

"Playable" defenses are another story entirely. I remain agnostic about the kaleidoscope of openings, even for beginners. Markovich would be turning over in his grave, but if a beginner wants to play the French or even the Pirc, I say go for it. Whatever it takes to keep the flame alive.

Hi.

Let me give some thoughts on the Pirc-Modern complex, as some set of lines from this is what I usually play against 1...e4.

To begin with. There are unique lines to the Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6) and unique lines in the Modern (1.e4 g6). Not to mention multiple, multiple side setups like the Czech (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6) or the North Sea (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6) that I will not exactly touch on. I'm not exactly sure at this point what you learn in the Pirc and not in the Modern though and vice-versa so I will still present as the Pirc-Modern complex and not each individually.

In the Pirc-Modern complex I'd say one learns things like:
- Playing against flexible central pawn formations (not fixed like in some other openings)
- Timing pawn moves that go beyond the 6th rank (or white can often make these pawns into targets)
- Colour complex play (Usually black has quite good conditions to be strong on the dark squares and so quite often situations where black plays heavily on these occur)
- Coordinating development (not much space to develop to begin with and sometimes certain developments are sensitive to white thrusts)
- Playing with the queen (it's often used as a supporting piece for central play or as active punisher for overextended white positions)
- Attack/defense of the king (Many direct attacking lines that easily can end up targeting the black king exist. It's harder to get king attacks as black but can happen as well)
- Playing for and with queenside space (If black gets in b7-b5, as usually happens, the pawn can stay there for a long time in many positions and sometimes threaten to advance)
- Material for initiative positions (Basically white can often go a bit wild and sacrifice stuff in these types of openings)
- Double fianchetto positions (so having both g7 and b7 bishops, it happens, but is not completely common in many other openings. Especially e4 ones I would say)

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 12/07/25 at 06:12:34:

That's the way I did it when I was a junior.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 12/07/25 at 06:12:34:

Eventually, yes. In general openings should be selected to emphasize a player's strengths. But juniors don't have any strengths so just pick one opening (maybe even randomly) and stick with it for now. The argument for a second opening is to emphasize an opponent's weaknesses. But that's far down the road.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 12/07/25 at 06:12:34:

So, you are coaching? Is the idea to recommend different defenses for learning different skills? It seems an inefficient way. Far better to select some master games where the skill was used and have the student play over those. With maybe some quiz positions afterwards like Dvoretsky would do.

The potential bad habit is neglecting middlegames and endgames.