Here is a brilliancy illustrating White's attacking chances when the players castle on opposite sides in the Classical Variation: These variations can be sharp and dynamic. More popular recently are variations with Black castling kingside and even leaving his king in the centre. Variations with Black castling queenside gave the Caro–Kann its reputation of being solid but somewhat boring. Black makes very few compromises in pawn structure and plays a timely. Much of the Caro–Kann's reputation as a solid defence stems from this variation. Although White's pawn on h5 looks ready to attack, it can prove to be a weakness in an endgame. This was long considered to represent best play for both sides in the Caro–Kann. The most common way of handling the Caro–Kann, the Classical Variation (often referred to as the Capablanca Variation after Cuban grandmaster José Raúl Capablanca), is defined by the moves: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2) dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5. In the 21st century, grandmasters Vladislav Artemiev and Alireza Firouzja use the opening with regularity, while Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura use it on occasion. White can combat the Caro–Kann in several different ways, often gaining a space advantage additionally, Black has less mobility and can lag in development.
However, it comes at the cost of a tempo because Black has to play 1.c6 before pushing the pawn to c5, whereas Black can push c7–c5 in one move in the French Defence.
Unlike its sister opening, the French Defence, the Caro–Kann does not hinder the development of Black's light-squared bishop. It allows Black to circumvent enormous bodies of theory in 1.e4 openings such as the Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian Defence. It often leads to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure. It is classified as a Semi-Open Game, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, although it is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than either of those openings. The Caro–Kann is a common defence against the King's Pawn Opening. The Caro–Kann Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
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