The French and the Caro-Kann

A game on lichess.org, 2014. Black has pawns on c6, d5 and e6, White on d4 and e5. This structure arises both in the French Defence and in the Caro-Kann. The black queen has wandered off to c3, the king is still in the centre, and White's pieces are aiming at f7. Only the king defends the f7 pawn. White to move.

The black queen went after pawns on the other side of the board, and nobody was left to defend the king. In closed pawn structures this happens often: it feels as if the centre is locked and there is no hurry, while the opponent gathers pieces around the king. The d5 and e6 pawns hold the centre firmly, but without pieces they will not save the king.

The idea of the two defences

Both defences start with a modest move. In the French Black plays 1… e6, in the Caro-Kann 1… c6. In both cases the pawn prepares …d5: Black wants to put a pawn opposite the e4 pawn and contest the centre. After 2. d4 d5 White decides what to do with the tension: push the pawn to e5, trade it on d5 or defend it with a piece.

Each of the three answers changes the character of the game. The push e5 closes the centre and creates a pawn chain. The trade on d5 opens it and makes the position symmetrical. Defending the pawn with a piece keeps the tension, and then Black decides when to take on e4. So in both defences you need a plan against each of the three answers; one line is not enough. The good news is that the plans repeat: blows against the chain, getting the c8 bishop out and play against the d4 pawn come up in almost every line.

The French Defence got its name in 1834, after a correspondence game between London and Paris: the Paris players answered 1. e4 with 1… e6. The Caro-Kann is named after two 19th-century players, the Englishman Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann, who published their analysis of it in 1886. World champions played both: Mikhail Botvinnik the French, Anatoly Karpov the Caro-Kann.

In the Caro-Kann Black avoids this problem. The c6 pawn supports d5 just as the e6 pawn does in the French, but the light-squared bishop stays free. Black brings it out to f5 or g4 and only then plays …e6. The price is time: …c6 does nothing for development, and later Black often has to move the c-pawn again, to c5.

The French Defence

The sharpest fight in the French is over the pawn chain. If White pushes 3. e5, the d4 and e5 pawns stand on a diagonal, one defending the other. Such a diagonal of pawns is called a pawn chain. Every chain has a base, the bottom pawn that no pawn defends. Aron Nimzowitsch stated the rule in his book My System (1925): attack a chain at its base.

Black has a second blow against the chain, the move …f6. It attacks the e5 pawn, the head of the chain, and opens the f-file for a rook after castling. White, in turn, holds the chain and uses the space: the e5 pawn takes f6 away from Black's knight, and White often starts an attack on the kingside.

The pawn chain also tells you where to play. It points in the direction of attack: the d4–e5 chain points at the kingside, and White likes to attack where they have more room. Black's d5 and e6 pawns point at the queenside, and Black plays there: the c5 pawn, the half-open c-file, pressure on b2 and d4. Each side attacks on its own wing, and whoever gets there first wins.

The Advance Variation has a well-known trap. After 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. cxd4 it looks as if the d4 pawn can be taken: a knight and the queen attack it, and only the f3 knight defends it.

Pressure on d4 in the Advance Variation can be real, and then it wins material for Black. In the game below the white bishop on e3 was defending the base of the chain, but it came under attack from a knight itself.

Apart from the advance, White has three main answers. The Tarrasch Variation, 3. Nd2, defends the e4 pawn with a knight that cannot be pinned. The Exchange Variation, 3. exd5 exd5, gives a symmetrical and quiet position but frees the c8 bishop. The move 3. Nc3 leads to the sharpest lines: the Classical 3… Nf6 and the Winawer 3… Bb4, named after the 19th-century Polish player Szymon Winawer.

In the Winawer the b4 bishop pins the c3 knight, and Black often gives up the bishop for the knight to spoil White's pawns. Without the f8 bishop, though, the dark squares around Black's king get weaker. White sometimes attacks the g7 pawn with the queen at once, and Black gives up kingside pawns for a counterattack in the centre. In such play a one-move mistake decides the game.

The Classical 3… Nf6 most often continues with 4. Bg5: the bishop pins the knight to the queen. If the knight leaves f6, the g5 bishop looks straight at the queen on d8. Black usually puts the bishop on e7 and so closes the diagonal. It is easy to forget about it, especially when the knight retreats after e5.

In the French the e5 pawn drives the knight off f6, and the black king's main defender leaves with it. That is why the bishop sacrifice on h7, familiar from the chapter on sacrifices and combinations, turns up so often in French positions. The white bishop stands on d3, a knight is ready to jump to g5, the queen comes out to h5, and the f6 knight has already been driven away. Before castling in such a position Black should check whether the white bishop can take on h7 with check.

The Caro-Kann Defence

The Caro-Kann is considered one of the most solid defences against 1. e4. Black gets a sound pawn structure, and the c8 bishop gets out before …e6. Its best-known line is the Classical system, 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5.

After 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Black has other moves too. The move 4… Nd7, a line Karpov often played, prepares …Ngf6: Black wants to trade White's strong knight without getting doubled pawns. The move 4… Nf6 offers the trade at once, and after 5. Nxf6+ Black has to recapture with a pawn. Doubled pawns on the f-file weaken the structure but open lines for the pieces. Each move leads to its own type of position, and the choice is a matter of taste.

The Caro-Kann has a short trap that is easy to fall into. It arises in the 4… Nd7 line if White puts the queen on e2, on the same file as the black king, and Black carries straight on with the planned …Ngf6. The e7 pawn is pinned, and d6 is left undefended.

Another frequent theme of the Caro-Kann is an attack on the castled king. White puts the queen on d3, a knight on g5 and a pawn on h4, and the black knight leaves f6, the last defender of h7.

Against the Caro-Kann White has a choice as well. The Advance Variation, 3. e5, builds a chain as in the French. The Exchange Variation, 3. exd5 cxd5, gives quiet play. The Panov Attack, 4. c4 after the exchange, often leads to positions with an isolated pawn on d4, where White has active pieces and Black has a target.

In the Caro-Kann Advance White often attacks the f5 bishop with pawns: g4, h4, sometimes Ne2 and Ng3. The bishop has to find a safe square in time, or the pawns will shut it in on the kingside. Black gets the same chain as in the French and plays against it with the same blows: …c5 at the base and sometimes …f6 at the head. The plan is familiar, only the c8 bishop is already outside the chain.

Typical mistakes

Black's main mistake in the French is forgetting about the c8 bishop. If Black does not prepare a way out for it, …b6 and …Ba6, a route via d7 and e8, or a trade, then by the endgame the bishop only defends its own pawns. The second mistake is passivity. The d4–e5 chain gives White space, and without the blows …c5 and …f6 Black slowly suffocates.

White more often goes wrong by defending the chain at any cost. The d4 pawn holds while the c3 pawn and the f3 knight support it. If the knight leaves or the c3 pawn is traded, the base falls, and the whole chain after it. In the Caro-Kann White sometimes chases the c8 bishop for too long: every pawn move near your own king weakens squares that Black's pieces will later use.

One mistake is common to both sides. A closed centre gives the impression that the position is calm and any useful move will do. In fact, with a closed centre play on the wings decides everything, and a slow move hands the opponent a tempo for their attack. Before every quiet move, ask yourself what the opponent would do if you simply passed the move to them.

How to choose

The French suits those who like tense positions with a clear plan: Black knows where to strike, at the base of the chain. The Caro-Kann is chosen by players who want a sound position without weaknesses and are ready to wait for the moment to counterattack. Both defences need patience: Black rarely attacks in the first moves, but is less often swept away quickly.

If you play White, it helps to have one answer to each defence. The Advance Variation gives similar positions against both and teaches one plan: hold the chain and attack on the kingside. Study the traps of this chapter from both sides: in fast games they turn up more often than you might think.

It is better to start with ideas and memorise moves later. For the French these are the blows …c5 and …f6, the fate of the c8 bishop and the defence against the sacrifice on h7. For the Caro-Kann they are developing the bishop before …e6, dealing with White's kingside pawns and the trap with Nd6#. These ideas are enough to handle the first ten moves confidently against an opponent of your level.

As in the previous chapter, your own games are the best teacher. Play a few games with your chosen defence and go through them on the analysis page. Note where the opponent left the familiar line and whether you managed to strike at the base of the chain or get the c8 bishop out.

What's next

All the openings in the last three chapters began with 1. e4. The move 1. d4 leads to other positions: the pawn centre is built more slowly, and the fight is more often over squares than over quick blows. The next chapter is about these openings.