[Event "The Caro Kann Defence: Complete Repertoire: Chapter #2: - Exchange Variation - Rubinstein Variation -  Main Line Systems #2"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/MBQ3N0F8/Z40UpY3L"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chapter #2:"]
[Black "Exchange Variation - Standard Bd3 - Standard System #2"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/Shreksify"]
[ECO "B13"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation, Rubinstein Variation"]
[UTCDate "2022.11.09"]
[UTCTime "07:18:10"]
[Variant "Standard"]

1. e4 { [%csl Ge4][%cal Ge2e4] } 1... c6 { [%csl Gc6][%cal Gc7c6] } 2. d4 { [%csl Gd4][%cal Gd2d4] } 2... d5 { Welcome to my chess study of the Exchanged Caro Kann or ECK for short.
The ECK is probably the most easiest way to handle the Caro Kann, why? Well
it lessens the theory and it consolidates white position aswell. There are two type of ECK players in here, one is people who plays the exchanged
variation because they do not have the exact repertoire to meet the Caro Kann so they decided to stick to their e4 e5 principle. hey try to replicate the opening, to try and make it similar to e4 e5 even if its the Caro Kann. The other is the ones that wants to cut of loads of opening homework
and theory and try to keep the position simpler compared to the other Caro variations and at the same time try to achieve an improvise London System against black with the Horwitz with the c pawn missing. Ive played the ECK a lot of time but I prefer the Advanced Caro Kann, Two Knights Caro Kann and of course the Classical way of playing the Caro Kann. To be honest Ive stopped playing the ECK with the white pieces since it gives black the opportunity to develop with ease. Black's position remains as flexible as it would ever be and by the way many people have been telling me that the
ECK is probably a very good opening against the Caro Kann and even a handful of people Including Bobby Fischer employed it and had a great success in playing it. But the problem is if Black knows what he is doing you are most likely toast since black gets the opportunity to counter attack the ECK with the Grunfeld set up. Nobody has every tried to play the Grunfeld against me, they prefer to go for the Horwitz set up WHICH is probably a horrible way of meeting the ECK with black. In this opening line Im going to explain to you what white is trying to prove and achieve. I would tell you what black should do and even the slightest bit of sidelines in here are all covered. Here it goes! [%csl Gd5][%cal Gd7d5] } 3. exd5 { [%csl Gd5][%cal Ge4d5] } 3... cxd5 { [%csl Gd5][%cal Gc6d5] } 4. Bd3 { Majority of the experienced ECK players would play Bd3 to take away one
of the most important square for black. The move BF4! The f4 square is now
covered! Now we will not give whiite all the fun in the opening. We would fight for the f4 square and neutrelize white's bishop pair! [%csl Gd3][%cal Gf1d3] } 4... Nc6 { [%csl Gc6,Rc3,Rf3][%cal Gb8c6,Rc2c3,Rg1f3] } 5. c3 { [%csl Gc3][%cal Gc2c3] } ( 5. Nf3 { [%csl Gf3][%cal Gg1f3] } 5... Nf6 { A new system to meet the good ol' boring Exchange Variation with Nf3 is
simply Nf6 then later on Ne4! A brand new system to meet the good ol'
boring Exchange Variation with Nf3! [%csl Gf6][%cal Gg8f6] } 6. c3 { [%csl Gc3][%cal Gc2c3] } 6... Ne4 $5 { Whats the big idea behind the move Ne4!? Well to put it this way black
wants to move his knight to the d6 square. Would have been a preferable
choice followed by Bg4 and onwards. [%csl Ge4][%cal Gf6e4] } 7. Bxe4 $5 { Bishop takes knight would only elude to black having a superior position.
First and formost the bishop pair is gone and also black has a pawn on e4
which evicts white's knight from f3. It would take a couple of tempo ahead before white can resolve that. [%csl Ge4][%cal Gd3e4] } ( 7. Nbd2 { Nd2 is met with Nd6! Do not exchange our knight against white's good ol'
boring Nd2! Lets keep things dynamic shall we? } 7... Nd6 8. Ne5 Bf5 { Exchanging bishops would be beneficial since you could see the light
squares on white's position from b1-h7 slowly weaken. } 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Nb3 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 e6 ) ( 7. Bf4 { Bf4 logically speaking since Nd2 would have made the dark square bishop
stuck. So Bf4 first before Nd2. Problem in here is after the move Bf4 Bf5
would have been played thus stablizing the knight on e4. } 7... Bf5 8. Qb3 Qd7 9. O-O ( 9. Ne5 Nxe5 10. dxe5 a6 { Obviously preventing the big idea behind Bb5 with a pin on our queen thus
goodbye queen and might aswell as resign. } 11. Qc2 g6 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Bg7 ) 9... e6 10. Ne5 { If black can play Ne4 then so can I! Well thats not the case in here
since the move Nxd5 dxe5 a6 and onwards would have made the position less
complicated and black's knight on e4 still remains intact. } 10... Nxe5 11. Bxe5 Nc5 ) 7... dxe4 { [%csl Ge4,Gf3][%cal Gd5e4,Ge4f3] } 8. Ng5 { [%csl Ge4,Gg5][%cal Gf3g5,Gg5e4] } 8... Qd5 { Support the e4 pawn! Soon black would play Bf5 then e5! A devastating
breakthrough in the center! [%csl Gd5,Ge4][%cal Gd8d5,Gd5e4] } 9. Qe2 { [%csl Ge2,Ge4,Gg5][%cal Gd1e2,Ge2e4,Gg5e4] } 9... Bf5 { [%csl Gf5,Ge4][%cal Gc8f5,Gf5e4] } 10. f3 { [%csl Gf3,Gf8,Gg1][%cal Gf2f3,Gf1f8,Ge1g1] } 10... exf3 { [%csl Gf3][%cal Ge4f3] } 11. Nxf3 { [%csl Gf3][%cal Gg5f3] } 11... e5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Ge7e5] } 12. Nxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gf3e5] } 12... Nxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gc6e5] } 13. Qxe5+ { [%csl Ge5][%cal Ge2e5] } 13... Qxe5+ { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gd5e5] } 14. dxe5 { White is left with a horrible Isolated pawn! What a horrible position I
have to say! [%csl Ge5][%cal Gd4e5] } 14... O-O-O { [%csl Gc8,Gd1][%cal Ge8c8,Gd8d1] } ) 5... Nf6 { [%csl Gf6][%cal Gg8f6] } 6. Bf4 { [%csl Gf4][%cal Gc1f4] } 6... Ne4 $1 { Believe it or not, against experienced Exchange Caro Kann players who
settle for the Improvised London would definetely be surprised by this
move! Why the move knight to e4? Well first and for most we are going to take advantage of the e4 square. second we are going to try and get our knight centralized. We are going to try exchange our light square bishop to white's powerful bishop on d3. By doing so we have to play Ne4 followed by Nd6 then Bf5!
Another interesting idea behind the move knight to e4 is that we are blocking off white's light square bishop. Thus making it possible for us to play Bf5! [%csl Rd2,Ge4][%cal Gf6e4,Rb1d2,Rd3e4] } 7. Nd2 { [%csl Gd2][%cal Gb1d2] } ( 7. Bxe4 $6 { White's participation in taking the knight would not do him any good since now black's center pawns would bring a great distaste on white's position. [%csl Ge4][%cal Gd3e4] } 7... dxe4 { [%csl Ge4][%cal Gd5e4] } 8. Nd2 { [%csl Gd2,Ge4][%cal Gb1d2,Gd2e4] } 8... Qd5 { [%csl Gd5,Ge4][%cal Gd8d5,Gd5e4] } 9. Ne2 { [%csl Ge2][%cal Gg1e2] } 9... e5 $1 { Black's spontaneous attempt in trying to breakthrough white's one and only center pawn would bring black sufficient counterplay on the center. [%csl Ge5,Gf4,Gd4][%cal Ge7e5,Ge5f4,Ge5d4] } 10. dxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gd4e5] } 10... Nxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gc6e5] } 11. Bxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gf4e5] } 11... Qxe5 { [%csl Ge5][%cal Gd5e5] } 12. O-O { [%csl Gg1][%cal Ge1g1] } 12... f5 { [%csl Gf5][%cal Gf7f5] } 13. Qb3 { [%csl Gb7][%cal Gd1b3,Gb3b7] } 13... Qc7 { [%csl Gc7,Gb7][%cal Ge5c7,Gc7b7] } 14. Nd4 { [%csl Gd4][%cal Ge2d4] } 14... Bd7 { [%csl Gd7][%cal Gc8d7] } 15. Rad1 { [%csl Gd1][%cal Gb1d1] } 15... O-O-O { [%csl Gc8][%cal Ge8c8] } ) 7... Nd6 8. Ngf3 { [%csl Gf3][%cal Gg1f3] } 8... Bf5 { [%csl Gf5][%cal Gc8f5] } 9. Bxf5 { [%csl Gf5][%cal Gd3f5] } 9... Nxf5 { [%csl Gf5][%cal Gd6f5] } 10. Qb3 { [%csl Gb3,Gb7][%cal Gd1b3,Gb3b7] } 10... Qd7 { [%csl Gd7,Gb7][%cal Gd8d7,Gd7b7] } 11. O-O { [%csl Gg1][%cal Ge1g1] } 11... e6 { Tango move order of the Exchange Caro Kann - Complete [%csl Ge6][%cal Ge7e6] } *