CARO – KANN DEFENSE

Grandmaster Secrets - The Caro-Kann

Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.

GM Wells has written well regarded opening books before (Kasparov remarked positively on Wells' Semi-Slav book). In this work, he explains the current state of theory in every significant variation of the Caro-Kann.

Wells mentions that in his youth, he employed the Caro-Kann, and throughout the book enjoys pointing out lines where Black is doing well. But this book is certainly not a repertoire for the Black player, nor a one-sided treatise on winning with theCaro-Kann. It is an honest and mostly objective look at how GMs today view the main lines of the Caro.




Caro Kann Defence: Advance Variation and Gambit System (Batsford Chess Books)

I found the chapters on the Panov Attack and the Advance variation most interesting. Chapters on 4...Nd7, 4...Bf5 and 4...Nf6 as well as sections on the 2 Pawns Attack and various White tries like the KIA and 2 Knights variation all help anyone interested in the Caro-Kann from either side to gain insight. He gives explanations of the main ideas for BOTH sides of this classic defense. He does present the lastest theory but this is not a theoretical tome on the opening, but more like a textbook. If you play 1.e4, you need this book. If you play 1...c6, you probably already own it.

Category: Chess , Chess Reviews , Openings in Chess