[Event "Study the Caro-Kann: The Advance Variation"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/JgYRYH3Q/tZRWNWbF"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/Northern05"]
[ECO "B12"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Van der Wiel Attack"]
[UTCDate "2019.03.20"]
[UTCTime "13:20:22"]
[Variant "Standard"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 { With this move the Caro-Kann enters the Advance Variation. This variation is nowadays the most played variation, even more often played then the mainline. } 3... Bf5 $32 { There are now many ways for white to respond. } ( 3... c5 { Sacrificing a pawn to weaken whites pawn structure. } 4. dxc5 Nc6 ( 4... e6 { Solidifying his/her position. } 5. Be3 Nh6 { Preparing an attack against whites bishop. [%cal Gh6f5,Gf5e3] } 6. c3 Nf5 7. Bd4 ) 5. Bb5 { Pining the knight. [%cal Gb5e8] } 5... e6 6. Be3 Ne7 ) 4. Nc3 { An old way to counter the Advance Variation, called Van der Wiel Attack/Shirov Attack. With this move does white gain a lot of attacking chances. } ( 4. Ne2 { Entering the Bronstein Variation. } 4... e6 5. Ng3 { Challenging the bishop. [%cal Gg3f5] } 5... Bg6 6. h4 { Threatening the trap the bishop on g6 with the move h5. [%cal Gh4h5] } 6... h5 7. Be2 c5 $132 8. Bxh5 Bxh5 9. Nxh5 ) ( 4. Bd3 { A bad move by white. } 4... Bxd3 5. Qxd3 $10 e6 ) ( 4. c4 e6 5. Nc3 Ne7 6. Qb3 Qb6 7. c5 { Forcing a trade of queens. } 7... Qxb3 8. axb3 $14 { Black has now got a bad bishop, because it needs two moves to develop and white has an opened a-file. [%cal Gf8a3,Ga1a8,Gg7g6,Gf8h6] } ) ( 4. Nf3 { Now white entered the Short Variation of the Advance Variation. } 4... e6 { Black gets a really strong pawn structure. [%csl Gf7,Ge6,Gd5,Gc6,Gb7] } 5. Be2 Nd7 ( 5... c5 { An aggressive move. } 6. Be3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 { Capturing with an attack against the bishop on f5. [%cal Gd4f5] } 7... Ne7 { Protecting the bishop. If white takes the bishop, blacks knight takes white knight with an attack on whites e3 bishop. [%cal Ge7f5,Gd4f5,Gf5e3] } 8. Nd2 Nbc6 9. N2f3 Be4 ) ( 5... Ne7 6. O-O c5 7. c4 dxc4 ( 7... Nbc6 8. dxc5 d4 ) 8. Bxc4 Nbc6 ) 6. O-O Ne7 7. Nbd2 h6 ( 7... c5 { Attacking the centre. The Advance Variation is one of the most brutal variations to play the Caro-Kann. } ) 8. Nb3 g5 9. Ne1 Qc7 10. Nd3 ) ( 4. h4 { Entering the Tal Variation. This move comes with a threat of trapping the bishop with the moves g4 and then with the following move h5. [%cal Gg2g4,Gh4h5,Gf5g6] } 4... h5 { Not allowing g4. } 5. c4 e6 6. Nc3 Ne7 7. Nge2 Nd7 ) ( 4. f4 e6 5. Nf3 h5 ) ( 4. Be3 { The goal with this move is positional. The e3 bishop prevents Black from playing c5, and Nd2-Nb3 is up next to make c5 even harder. It's often played by titled players. } 4... e6 5. Nd2 Ne7 6. Ngf3 Bg6 ) 4... e6 { Black gets a really strong pawn structure. [%csl Gf7,Ge6,Gd5,Gc6,Gb7] } 5. g4 { An immediate attack by white. } 5... Bg6 6. Nge2 { Preparing to attack the bishop. [%cal Ge2f4,Gf4g6] } 6... c5 { Striking at the centre. } 7. h4 { Endangers to trap the bishop. } 7... h5 { Sacrificing the h pawn to save the bishop. } ( 7... h6 { Often played in the 1980s } 8. Be3 Nc6 9. dxc5 Nxe5 10. Nf4 Bh7 11. Bb5+ Nc6 12. Qe2 { Preparing some sacrifices and then do an discovery attack with the queen. [%cal Ge2e8,Gf4d5,Gc3d5,Ge3d4,Ge6d5] } 12... Ne7 13. O-O-O { The h6 line has lost its popularity, because Black will have a hard time to develop its pieces. } ) ( 7... cxd4 { You need to be a good player to execute this line of the Advance Variation. } 8. Nxd4 h5 9. f4 { Ignoring the threat from the h5 pawn. [%cal Gh5g4] } 9... hxg4 10. Bb5+ Nd7 11. f5 { Attacking the bishop. } 11... Rxh4 12. Rf1 exf5 { Breaking the pawn chain. [%csl Gd5,Ge6,Gf7] } 13. e6 { Sacreficing another pawn. } 13... fxe6 14. Nxe6 { Forking the bishop and the queen. [%cal Ge6d8,Ge6f8] } ( 14. Qe2 Qe7 15. Bg5 $1 { Distracting the queen. Black is forced to take the bishop [%cal Ge7e6,Gg5e7,Gg5h4] } 15... Qxg5 $7 16. Bxd7+ Kxd7 17. Qxe6+ Kd8 18. Qxd5+ Ke8 19. Qb5+ Kf7 20. Nxf5 Bxf5 21. Rxf5+ Qxf5 22. Qxf5+ Nf6 23. O-O-O $18 ) 14... Qe7 15. Qe2 Nf6 $5 { Ignoring a future fork. [%cal Ge6c7,Gc7e8,Gc7a8] } 16. Nc7+ Kf7 17. Nxa8 Ne5 $13 { White has a trapped kignt and black has two dangerous pawns [%csl Ga8][%cal Gf5f3,Gg4g3] } 18. Bf4 Nf3+ 19. Kd1 $13 { Black has many threats, but White is up a rook. [%cal Gf6e4,Gg6h5,Gg4g3] } ) 8. Nf4 Bh7 9. Nxh5 cxd4 { This capture comes with an attack on the c3 knight. [%cal Gd4c3] } ( 9... Nc6 10. dxc5 Bxc5 11. Bb5 d4 ( 11... Qc7 { A better move. } 12. Bxc6+ Qxc6 13. Qf3 { Trying to prevent the move d4 and putting a lot of pressure on the king side. [%cal Gd5d4,Gf3f7,Gh5g7,Gg7e6] } 13... Kf8 { Defending the g-pawn. [%csl Gg7] } 14. Bg5 Rc8 15. O-O $13 d4 16. Qxc6 Rxc6 { Entering the middle game. } 17. Rad1 $1 { If black captures white will move his/her rook to the d8 square with checkmate. [%cal Gd4c3,Gd1d8] } ) 12. Bxc6+ bxc6 13. Qf3 $3 { Black can't take the c3 Knight. Because whites queen will capture the d-pawn with check and can then take the c5 Bishop. [%cal Gf3c6,Gd4c3,Ge8f8,Gc6c5] } 13... Qd7 14. Bg5 { Sacrificing the kinght. A more risky way to play, but a better one for white. } ( 14. Ne4 { A safer move. Nakamura, Hikaru - Bareev, Evgeny, 1-0, Corsica Masters rap 11th, 2007, https://lichess.org/2qdJudkX } 14... Bb4+ 15. Bd2 Bxe4 16. Qxe4 { Nakamura played this line. } ( 16. Nxg7+ { A better line then Nakamura played. } 16... Kf8 17. Nxe6+ Qxe6 18. Bxb4+ Ke8 19. Qxe4 $16 ) 16... Bxd2+ 17. Kxd2 Kf8 18. Rad1 Rb8 19. Kc1 c5 20. Rh3 Ne7 21. Nf4 Qc6 22. Qe2 Nd5 23. Nxd5 Qxd5 24. c4 Qd8 $14 { White has one more pawn. } ) 14... dxc3 15. Nxg7+ Kf8 16. Rd1 { Black can't move his queen. } 16... cxb2 17. O-O Be4 18. Qxe4 Qb7 $16 ) 10. Nb5 Nc6 $15 { Attacking whites pawn on e5 and protecting the d4 pawn. [%cal Gc6e5,Gc6d4] } 11. Nxd4 { Black has a lot of initiative and he/she can trade the knights. White has a weak diagonal , which will lead to many attacks on the king. But black will have a hard time to develop his h-file rook, g8 knight and f8 bishop. [%csl Gh8,Gf8,Gg8][%cal Gc6d4,Gd8a5,Ga5e1,Gf8b4,Gb4e1] } *