Into my mind: Caro-Kann
Intro
Recently I've been watching a decent amount of GM Daniel Naroditsky's OhMyLands speedrun,
particularly the range of videos at/slightly below my rating range. Daniel happens to play the Caro-Kann as black a lot in these videos - I also happened to be looking through my Opening Tree lately and noticed that Caro Kann was one of my most successful openings vs 1. e4, so I felt inspired to give it another try. I had previously stopped playing it because I felt that I was ending up in a lot of positions I felt uncomfrotable in, but after watching Daniel's videos, I think I was not understanding the plan of the Caro-Kann properly.
The Game
knotik1955 (1591) vs. TerabyteTiger (1538)
10+0 Online Rapid
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
1.
e4
c6
2.
d4
d5
3.
e5
Bf5
4.
Bd3
Bg6
5.
Bxg6
hxg6
6.
f4
e6
7.
Nf3
c5
8.
Be3
Qb6
9.
b3
Nc6
10.
c3
Nh6
11.
h3
Nf5
12.
Bf2
cxd4
13.
cxd4
Bb4+
14.
Kf1
Rc8
15.
Kg1
f6
16.
Qd3
Ba5
17.
a3
Qa6
18.
Qxa6
bxa6
19.
b4
Bb6
20.
Nbd2
Ncxd4
21.
Nxd4
Nxd4
22.
exf6
gxf6
23.
Kh2
Rc2
24.
Rhd1
Rxd2
25.
Rxd2
Nb3
26.
Rda2
Nxa1
27.
Bxb6
axb6
28.
Rxa1
Rh4
29.
g3
Rh7
30.
Rc1
Kd7
31.
h4
Kd6
32.
Kg2
b5
33.
Kf3
Rc7
34.
Rxc7
Kxc7
35.
g4
Kd6
36.
h5
gxh5
37.
gxh5
Ke7
38.
Kg4
Kf7
39.
h6
Kg6
40.
h7
Kxh7
41.
Kh5
d4
42.
Kg4
Kg6
43.
Kf3
Kf5
44.
Ke2
Kxf4
45.
Kd3
Ke5
46.
Ke2
f5
47.
Kd3
f4
48.
Ke2
Ke4
49.
Kf2
d3
50.
Ke1
Ke3
51.
Kd1
f3
52.
Ke1
f2+
53.
Kd1
f1=Q#
Takeaways
- As it turns out, having a plan is a pretty good idea
- Placing the Queen on b6 is good, but know when to leave the square
- Active Rooks >> Inactive Rooks