Playing the Caro-Kann

Lars Schandorff opens his preface with a quote from the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit: "The Caro-Kann Defence. Genuine bummer. What is wrong with the Caro-Kann? It is all pawns and no hope!" — attributed to the fictional grandmaster Benny Watts. He lets it sit for a paragraph, then dismantles it. The Caro-Kann, he argues, has changed: it is no longer a defence played for solid equality, but a weapon that the world's best players — including Carlsen and Caruana — have been using as a genuine winning try with Black.

This book is Schandorff's second on the Caro-Kann, but not an update of his earlier Grandmaster Repertoire 7. It is a completely new book built around a different main recommendation. In GMR 7, Schandorff advocated the classic 4...Bf5 in the Classical Variation — the move the Caro-Kann was essentially designed to play. Here he switches to 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6† exf6, a more combative line in which Black voluntarily accepts doubled pawns in exchange for piece activity and kingside pressure. Nothing is wrong with the old recommendation, he notes — Black has met every challenge of the past decade. But the new system creates more strategically demanding play and, in Schandorff's judgment, gives Black better winning chances.

In the Advance Variation's Short System, Schandorff retains his earlier recommendation of the immediate counterattack 5...c5. In the critical main line after 6.Be3, he now offers two options rather than one: the solid 6...cxd4 (his previous recommendation, which eventually equalises) and a new addition, 6...Qb6!?, which is equally sound but tests White's knowledge more and offers Black more winning chances. This pattern of expanded choice appears throughout the book wherever Schandorff felt it was appropriate.

344 pages. Suitable for intermediate to advanced players. Part of the Quality Chess Playing... series.