The Caro-Kann: Move by Move [Brossura]

Lakdawala's book on the Caro-Kann is extraordinary for the following reasons: 1) The analysis is detailed and presented in a digestible fashion. 2) A question-and-answer format brings up queries that many readers might pose, and answers them on the spot. 3) Typical Caro-Kann strategies, tactics, and general ideas are constantly being discussed. 4) The book offers a complete Caro-Kann repertoire, which makes life easier for the Caro fan. 5) Lakdawala writes with both warmth and humor, making the book a wonderfully fun read. 6) Lakdawala goes out of his way to instruct, which is almost unheard of in an opening book. He wants you to know why moves are played, and what the Caro-Kann offers Black.

Cyrus Lakadawala has a rare talent for making difficult ideas easy to understand. Mix in the fact that he plays the Caro-Kann himself and is a true aficionado of this opening and you have a must buy for all Caro-Kann players, and a must buy for those that have to face it as White. Highly recommended for players 1500 (who will get a lot of milage from most of the material, but will be swamped by some of the more complex, tactically insane main lines that occur after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7) to 2400 (yes, his main line analysis is that good).

I'd recommend this book to lower rated to mid rated players looking to put some time into learning a opening for life. This is a good travel book for lower rated since there's generally pictures every couple of moves. Lots of prose to understand the mentality behind the position and not just straight algebraic calculations.

Now what are the two big variations recommended?

For early 3Nc3 and 3Nd2, the Smylsov! As for the opening, I play English for white and Alekhine/Benoni for black. I love crazy games where you get to a point where you play chess and choose the plan and not memorized positions. This book is worth it for the tactical lines of the Smylsov alone. The Capablanca variation, with Bf5, can burn the excitement when you see white pound out 15 moves without thinking just to reach a decent position with somewhat predictable plans. If you're deadset on this, check out Houska's book as a good complement. If you're like me, and like making opponents think earlier on, the Smylsov is really interesting. I never knew the Smylsov was so out of fashion until I started playing it. It's fascinating to see how much more time my opponents spend on the clock tinkering around with all the tactical possibilities before making a move. It feels like you're playing chess again instead of pounding out some memorized moves towards a predictable plan.

For the Advance, it recommends an early Nd7 and mainline Shirov. I'm not a big fan of the advance lines in this book. I prefer early c5 in Short variation and early f6 in Shirov. I think the lines are good just don't provide for the crazy play/counterattack you get in the traditional battleground mainlines.

Solid recommendations for advance with early Qc7.

Other than that, read along and learn about one of the most fascinating openings in chess! Great organization. I typically prefer move trees than annotated games but found this to be more of an intro book to an opening. I've always loved the Caro Kann except for the Capablanca. I've switched now with all the excitement of the Smylsov and pushing myself to think of chess in a new light.

This is a very nice book explaining the moves for the caro kann. As you play the caro you will find that there are many books on the opeing and many books just on a specific lines, for example I have several books just on the advance variation of the caro kann. and while these other books are nice they dnt cover any other variations like exchange variation or even fantasy variation. This book is more like a primer on the caro kann it is where you start before you move on to books dedicated to specific line. The book points out weakness on your side and your opponents, where to concentrate your attack and where the traps are and what the startegy is behind the moves. Whats nice is that you are not just learning the opeing, your are training your self in positional play and will see your self evaluating other opening the way you learned to study the caro with this book.