Caro-Kann Opening - should I always play it?

Hiya all,

When playing Black I have been focusing on playing the Caro–Kann.

However I feel that I have been playing the opening blindly, regardless of what White plays.

Should I only play the Caro–Kann when I White plays e4 and attacks the centre?

Yes, don't play white either. Resign after move 1. Then if white plays d4, move it to e4 and then distract your opponent so they look away and slide the e2 pawn over to d2.

It's your choice, if you like the Caro-Kann much more than any other Opening and you are willing to put in the effort of preparing and understanding the moves of this Opening, I don't see anything wrong with playing the Caro.
But you should also check out other Openings if you haven't already, so that you get used to the positions and can easily identify them. Also, some ideas from other Openings might be useful for you - be it when you play white or the Caro.
You should however invest some time in finding an Opening against 1.d4 (and the other popular first moves). Also, before you do anything with Openings, you should get familiar with at least the basic endgames and tactics. Work your way up: At first learn important endgames, then popular middlegame plans and then your beloved Caro.

By definition it's only the Caro-Kann if white plays e4 on move one (or I guess by transposition if they play it on move 2 or something).

On the other hand, setups with c6 and d5 seem to be legitimate against more-or-less anything that white plays. 1 c4 c6 2 Nf3 d5 seems to be some sort of semi-reputable system against the English. 1 Nf3 c6 2 g3 d5 seems fine. 1 d4 c6 2 c4 d5 is the Slav, which is as sound as it gets. The only issue there is that white might be going for the London, where you're normally going to want to play c5 fairly early, and hence an early c6 is wasting a move. So I guess it might be better to play 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 and then go into something different if they play 2 Nf3 or 2 Bf4.

You'll probably have to start thinking on move two but hey, it's chess, you were going to have to start thinking at some point anyway.

I think that this phrase hit the nail on the head. "setups with c6 and d5 seem to be legitimate against more-or-less anything that white plays."

I play the Italian as my standard white setup, and I know the key lines and best moves (in theory anyway). Obviously slightly easier with white.

If I c6 & c5 is a solid setup I will continue to work around this.

I think I also need ot ensure that I am not on auto pilot and actually responding to what White plays

You can continue playing this opening if you want. Maybe 1.e4 e5 openings would be easier to handle though. I don't think you play this opening blindly. You seem to be playing correctly the frist few moves. The problem is what you do next. Take a look at this game for example.

It shows exactly what the problems are.

@pointlesswindows said in #6:
> You can continue playing this opening if you want. Maybe 1.e4 e5 openings would be easier to handle though. I don't think you play this opening blindly. You seem to be playing correctly the frist few moves. The problem is what you do next. Take a look at this game for example.
>
>
> It shows exactly what the problems are.

Thanks for the feedback. I know when I reviewed thsi one after I picked up a few things.

I do end up with tunnel vision, and this game is certainly is one of them. I know how I should have ended the game, but in the'moment' just couldnt make it happen.

For some strange reason I like the CK - what I want to do is get familar with something, get a good strong opening foundation to build upon. Or at the very least a strong start before I blunder

@KieHugh said in #1:
> Hiya all,
>
> When playing Black I have been focusing on playing the Caro–Kann.
>
> However I feel that I have been playing the opening blindly, regardless of what White plays.
>
> Should I only play the Caro–Kann when I White plays e4 and attacks the centre?

It will be very good for you to focus on just the Caro-Kann for a while. So when white plays e4 you play c6 every time. Then you can get good with the ideas of the Caro. Certain patterns and structures in these games you can add to your arsenal. You can always later on dabble into another opening.

But in short, no there's nothing wrong with playing just the Caro. In fact it will be very good for your development. Trying to play loads of openings at once will make it hard for you to absorb the ideas of each one.

P.S. Sent you a DM on Lichess. Got a question for you!