FM Lukas Winterberg in the chess24 studio

Dear chess friends, my name is Lukas Winterberg and I'm a FIDE Master from Germany. In this eBook I'll present a comprehensive opening repertoire for playing the Caro-Kann as Black. The opening is defined by the moves:

1. e4 c6

The ebook contains an overview of all the main and sidelines and I'll provide you with a firm understanding of Black's ideas in this opening. Why do I recommend the Caro-Kann? Well, of course Black has many responses to Bobby Fischer's move

1. e4 , such as

1... e5 but recently white players have tended to play

1... e6 The French Defence has the problem of the bishop on c8, which is blocked in by Black's own pawns.

1... c5 The Sicilian Defence is another extremely popular opening. The downside of this reply is that Black must know a lot of theory and white players are often well-prepared. Variations such as 2. ♘f3 d6 3. ♗b5+ are also probably not what Black would like to see when playing 1...c5.

2. ♘f3 ♘c6 3. ♗c4 The Italian Game. It currently seems as though Black is very close to equality, but he has some problems to solve. The ensuing positions are rather dry and unenjoyable to play with Black, so 1...e5 might not be to everybody's taste.

The Caro-Kann Defence is often considered a dull opening, but I think this eBook proves that, on the contrary, it's a very interesting opening which can lead to surprisingly sharp positions. We'll see positions like the following:

The Caro-Kann Defence can be played for a win, and it also helps that white players may not be well-prepared. I hope you'll enjoy this eBook and go on to play the Caro-Kann successfully.

This eBook is a reference companion to the video series, available for €16.99 (or $18.99). If you want to see and hear Lukas provide detailed instruction on this opening, you can purchase the series, which will also give you access to this eBook.

A chess24 Premium Membership unlocks all the videos and eBooks in our growing library.