E5 gets me in awful positions and I need a Carro Kan book or youtube videos. If you know of any please put them.
I'm assuming you mean for black, and specifically helping in terms of the advanced variation. Gothamchess has some free youtube videos on playing the caro system. If you aren't doing well with the 3... Bf5 system, the rarer 3...c5! system might be more up your alley and worth looking into.
Or, you could figure out what you're doing wrong when you play 1...e5 and then, y'know... not do those things anymore.
If you switch to the Caro-Kann, who says you won't wind up in similarly awful positions there? Maybe not so early in the game, but against good opposition and late enough. What then? Another change of opening? Same question for that opening.
Point: switching openings is just running away from your problems. It doesn't actually solve anything. The Caro-Kann is not a better opening than 1...e5, and the reverse is also true. If you want to avoid bad positions, no matter what opening you play, then you should learn how to do that (which involves improving your calculation, proper positional consideration and assessment, studying master games to see what plans work and what plans fail, etc.), rather than learn how some other players have kicked the can down the road.
If you switch to the Caro-Kann, who says you won't wind up in similarly awful positions there? Maybe not so early in the game, but against good opposition and late enough. What then? Another change of opening? Same question for that opening.
Point: switching openings is just running away from your problems. It doesn't actually solve anything. The Caro-Kann is not a better opening than 1...e5, and the reverse is also true. If you want to avoid bad positions, no matter what opening you play, then you should learn how to do that (which involves improving your calculation, proper positional consideration and assessment, studying master games to see what plans work and what plans fail, etc.), rather than learn how some other players have kicked the can down the road.
Caro kann move by move by lakdawala. When he was active, he played 1...c6 professionally and he does a good job explaining plans to beginners.
@biscuitfiend is right though, you lose games not because 1...e5 is not solid but because of lack of understanding your position, tactics, etc etc. That book by lakdawala is good and it's good because not only does he play the solid opening moves of the caro kann, but also explains what to aim for as far as plans go, but if you do read it, stick with the opening and don't keep switching
@biscuitfiend is right though, you lose games not because 1...e5 is not solid but because of lack of understanding your position, tactics, etc etc. That book by lakdawala is good and it's good because not only does he play the solid opening moves of the caro kann, but also explains what to aim for as far as plans go, but if you do read it, stick with the opening and don't keep switching
@biscuitfiend thats not true. I just end up getting positions that dont suit how I like to play. Not running away from my problems ive been play e5 for 8 years and I need to play something else for the simple fact of me getting bored. Additionally the way I play doesn't lend itself to the positions I get.
@concrete_steve You keep changing your stance.
In #5, you start by defending the claim that you don't like the positions you are getting; that's already subtly different from what you said in #1, where you claimed that you were getting bad positions. Then by the end of post #5 you are pinning it on boredom, which is a different reason entirely. The result is that you come across as being slightly confused, not really knowing what you are looking for.
For the record, boredom is a *good* reason to switch things up. But in that case, you might as well just try to play some games in the Caro and see what you can figure out on your own. That would be a better way to alleviate your boredom, would it not? It's a reasonably straightforward opening: play 1...c6 and 2...d5, and watch out for two traps: the classic smothered-mate-in-six (with Qe2, Nd7, Nd6#) and against the Two Knights Attack make sure to put the light-squared bishop on g4, not on f5. Besides that, just develop and play the resulting middlegame according to the specifics of the position.
Anyway, that's quite enough from me, I think. I'll shut up now and stop annoying you.
In #5, you start by defending the claim that you don't like the positions you are getting; that's already subtly different from what you said in #1, where you claimed that you were getting bad positions. Then by the end of post #5 you are pinning it on boredom, which is a different reason entirely. The result is that you come across as being slightly confused, not really knowing what you are looking for.
For the record, boredom is a *good* reason to switch things up. But in that case, you might as well just try to play some games in the Caro and see what you can figure out on your own. That would be a better way to alleviate your boredom, would it not? It's a reasonably straightforward opening: play 1...c6 and 2...d5, and watch out for two traps: the classic smothered-mate-in-six (with Qe2, Nd7, Nd6#) and against the Two Knights Attack make sure to put the light-squared bishop on g4, not on f5. Besides that, just develop and play the resulting middlegame according to the specifics of the position.
Anyway, that's quite enough from me, I think. I'll shut up now and stop annoying you.
Maybe "Play the Caro-Kann defence" by Anatoliy Karpov? (if it was translated...)
GothamChess videos are also a good start, went from 400 to 800+ ELO on chesscom, and still going up because of him. He has a good explanation and speech skill, even if you're not native language speaker.
Not sure if it will help when you're 2000 rated player, but maybe...
GothamChess videos are also a good start, went from 400 to 800+ ELO on chesscom, and still going up because of him. He has a good explanation and speech skill, even if you're not native language speaker.
Not sure if it will help when you're 2000 rated player, but maybe...
Lichess gamebase ?
...c6 by Cyrus Lakdawala and Keaton Kiewa. It's done in a kind of question and answer format for why you make some moves, so it's pretty helpful
#5
If you get bored after 8 years of playing 1...e5, then how do you think professional players do not get bored after more years and more games per year.
"the way I play doesn't lend itself to the positions I get."
How do you know the way you play will lend itself to the positions you get from the Caro-Kann after 8 years of play?
As Karpov said: "I have no style"
If you get bored after 8 years of playing 1...e5, then how do you think professional players do not get bored after more years and more games per year.
"the way I play doesn't lend itself to the positions I get."
How do you know the way you play will lend itself to the positions you get from the Caro-Kann after 8 years of play?
As Karpov said: "I have no style"
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