Caro-Kann is a solid defense, suiting well a good defender/counterattacker, positional and endgame player. It was invented by Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann in the Romantic era. As the chess developed,the popularity of logical play and educational value of CK appealed to many players, including World Champions.

<Black gets easy development of the pieces, clear plans with a solid pawn structure, and safe but active play. The fundamental aim of the opening is to achieve full development of the pieces and then begin active play to challenge White's space advantage. > Houska

< Black player is creating harmonious positions that were full of life, where behind the apparent absence of superficial dynamism was concealed a colossal internal energy (the slightest changes being taken into account in the general strategy.> Kasparov about Petrosian and CK

The secret of playing the Caro Kann well is knowing when it is appropriate to loosen your influence over one of the center squares in order to increase your control of another, more important square. McDonald

Principles: center, control of open lines, piece activity, pawn structure, strong/weak squares.

Simple tactics and ideas: Queen-side attack, Minority attack, favorable endgame and counterattack, punishing a premature attack.

This is a collection with the premier games to grasp the main ideas of CK. Many others can be found in best games of (Karpov, Petrosian, Botvinnik, Capablanca, Kasparov, Nimzovisch, Tal, Flohr, Miles, Speelman, Bronstein and Seirawan*, Larsen*, Bareev*, Korchnoi*, Tartakower*,Dreev*, Bologan*, Adams*, Anand* ).

Systems to know: Two Knights, Panov, Advance, Classical, Exchange. It is nice to be familiar with some early offshoots too.

WORK IN PROGRESS.