You can now...check out my Caro course! www.chessable.com/the-caro-kann-simplified/course/171080/

I see your strategy: take 3-4 minutes on move 3 or 4 and trick them into blundering out of frustration.

I really like this format, Alex. Talking about the main take away from the game beforehand, then playing through it to show it in action is very engaging. Often videos like these just jump right into the game without any pretext.

beside the valuable chess content, it's the humor that keeps bringing me back. watching your videos are such precious times of mine.

"The knight has to live with his parents." Strong line

I feel good knowing that an IM had "1 Mistake" in the evaluation. As long as the move/plan is theoretically sound, it's worth playing -- even if the computer might label that a mistake.

i fucking love this guy

When I first see your video in Caro Kann in how u explain it I feel great when I listen to your teaching my rating 600 it became 800 thank u and God bless

you deserve so many more subscribers. Your content is always fun to watch. So much to learn from you. Thank you very much, Alex.

You're killing it. Just found your channel and I've been binging everything. Plus, your recommendations are what I play. Caro and Vienna. Good stuff mate.

Thanks a lot, Alex! Great content! 👏

I like this method of teaching Alex. Going with the main plan and then explaining the variations slowly without spending too much time on the latter.

great lesson and demonstration Alex, thanks !

Totally enjoyable to watch. I like the running analysis which shows the thinking associated with each move and overall plan. Great video. Just found the channel will definitely sub. Good luck.

Great video as always, the League references are hilarious

Thank you Alex, Great Stuff!

brilliant, thank you!!

Great video Alex! Appreciate it!

"What is that? That is gonna be a Homeless King~" Lolll., I like that. If you can't bring the King out of the house, just destroy the House!

Always a fun ride (and educational)!

You are a very good teacher. Thank you, Sir!

Wow you explained this opening so good! Now I can play it 😊

Best chess content on KZfaq 😎🔥 thanks Alex!!

Thanks as always Alex.

When do you plan to release your Chessable Caro Kann course? I just bought your course son the Londom and I'm enjoying it. I think you're a gifted teacher. Thanks.

Very interesting. Thanks.

Really enjoy your videos Alex

dude ur the best chess coach. love the humor. so glad I found ur channel

Tartakower is my favorite Caro variation. Thank you!

Love the metaphors :)

In disbelief at how this man relates the game of chess to so many things, from billiards to relationships to fucking league lmfao. Liked and subbed

I love this content. I watch every speed run video

NEW EDITING IS GREAT LOVE YOU VIDEOS ALEX

Loving the video and the sound effects 😂 awesome job!

Thanks!

2minutes in and already loving the edit!

You are so funny 😂 Thank you!

Alex is the 🐐 so much value in every video

you're the best thank you so much

Nooooo now everyone will know! (I appreciate the longer format, your rants are funny and informative)

Spat my tea out with that drum sound effect 😆

Bro, your voice really calms me down, idk why, btw love the video :)

Great video! Can you do an Italian game climb? Or do u have one?

I’ve always gravitated to the knight trade doubling the pawn, makes development straightforward, 1 equal value piece already traded off, 2 pawns taking central squares, if they check with the queen I just develop my bishop as I naturally would’ve anyway. Makes the first 5-6 moves almost instant if they play into it, and the fast central control with the bishops is easy for opponents to miss at lower elos

you are great teacher

I was eating Chex Mix while I watched this, so I had to turn on the auto-generated closed captioning that KZfaq offers because I couldn't hear Alex over the crunching, and oh my God... I don't find him at all difficult to understand, but KZfaq's AI must, because the errors are amazing; I've been dying laughing. He said"knight E5," and the AI heard "Ninety-five," and it kept turning "opponent" into "pony," like..."Pony goes queen to D3." It's great. Another great video, too. Thanks for all your hard work in creating this great content for us, Alex. 👏👍

Nice video. I'm a fan. Also i'm wondering what opening u offer to play for white for the same level, Up to 1500.

Oh wow the league reference at 20:20, that's exactly what I thought about when you said you want to play on your strong side and then you said it 5 seconds later haha!

I love your Caro-Kann chessable and your sense of humor. In the classical I can't find a good line when, instead of taking or Nf3, white plays 5.Ng5 and then sacrifices the night on f7.

I have been struggling playing the tartakower variation so far, so Im glad you made this video. Super instructive!

I LOVE YOUR VIDS BRO

i have to admit that i bought a caro course from a very famous youtuber and trashed it cause Alex’s videos are super instructive…i mean i’m having a lot of wins and my game with black phenomenally improved just by watching Alex…no one explain the positions and the plans better especially for someone low rated like me..he doesn’t take anything for granted and takes the time to explain even the trivial details..also he’s very funny and interesting to watch..even his long videos are amazing…Thank you Alex soooo much for sharing your expertise with such professionalism and dedication!

Hey Alex, do you have a video on the panov-botvinnik Attack in the caro? Tournament on sunday and my g6 variation sucks

you awesome buddy. you make chess so much more enjoyable ...

Also another point, its true that the bishop isnt married to the knigs knight but i would still take it down as thats the kings protector for getting a checkmate...so strike it down soon as possible....same for e4...the kings pawn. in my games, i have noticed i win 98% of the time the moment i remove the kings pawn and the knigs knight.

Alex can you recommend how to refute Qf3 ? Happened with me earlier, had no idea how to counter.

I never play the Caro-Kann nor seldom face it because I'm mostly a 1.d4 player. On occasion, I'll play 1.e4 and play the white side of a Caro-Kann. Nonetheless, I enjoy your deep analysis of this defense - mostly because it gives me positional insights that can often be applied to other openings. I think you're running the risk of alienated a portion of the chess audience by focusing A LOT on the Caro-Kann Defense. Yet, if somebody plays it - or wants to play against it - your channel is an invaluable resource. I mostly enjoy your engaging style and chess insights. So, I'll keep coming back - but I'm guessing many others might not when they discover that it's All Caro-Kann, All Day, *with* commercial interruptions. :) Keep up the good work!

That guy that flipped the table brings back memories🤣🤣🤣🤣

doubled pawns are very important between players who're used to trade down their games to pawn endgames many 1500-1800 players base their long term strategy in creating a winning pawn endgame

Calm teacher and adds in some humor. No senseless screaming.

I started playing chess like 4 weeks ago and I was struggling and I started watching you channel. My Elo went from 300 to 600.your explanations are great, Thank you so much

Gosh dang it I love your commentary hahahaha

on my first try i made it to the legend league with caro kann and the london system, you got my sub

is there a good way of sending you a game and ask for opinion? practicing KK system now and find it tricky at 1350-1400 level. Keep up the good work

Hello IM Alex Banzea I usually play the Czech Pirc and I have been considering the Caro Kann since there are a lot of similar positions in it and, I hate fianchettoing since it always feels bad to play for me is the Caro Kann better for Blitz?

Imo, at 29:29 in the video, you should have played queen h3 after opponents pawn g3 instead of backing up to h5. At that point youre either checkmate in 2 or killed their queen. After playing queen h3, you let them play what ever piece they want, doesnt make a difference, nothing can change or stop your next move which should be bishop f3. The bishop can be taken only by their queen, but bishop is protected by pawn at e4, so if they decide to take your bishop with their queen, great, now you have traded your bishop for their queen. If they do not take the bishop, than what ever move they make will not stop your check mate of queen g2 Correction: opponent does have a bishop at c5, which if moved to f1 after you move queen to h3, would be the only move to hinder your attack.

The league of legends analogy of playing strong side jg opened my third chess eye

21:59 ... is there any merit in the move Qh4? I'm seeing a potential double attack with the e4 push, attaking their Queen with the pawn and opening up our Bishop thus threatening Qxh2 mate (just like you're idea of setting up the Queen/Bishop battery in the middle).

Was not expecting league reference

Love the league reference

Still waiting for that Caro-Kann Chessable course!

The intro position reminds me of a Tarrasch parody by Georg Marco praising the positional advantage of an isolated sextuple pawn published in the "Wiener Schachzeitung" around 1900.

10:20 "dont be married to this position just find an actual gf " god damnit alex i love u thats so good, this is why i keep coming back to ur vids this humour while teaching lines is so good ! plz keep up the good work!

why is it a mistake to play ...Bg4 on this position before casting?

Great video! I really want to play a game with you!

Thanks to this video I progressed from 1300-1350 to 1430. Thanks.

Extra spicy today, Alex!

love the league reference haha

Mulțumesc! Am câștigat cu jucători cu rating de 1600.

I love a game of snooker!

Gonna link this to my son, he gonna like it . :) GJ and keep rambeling :D

20:48 is crazy 😂😂

Yay another banger from the chess IM with the coolest accent

Alex, i wish u do a Caro ratings climb without too much explaiantions but take us thru the steps as u go. Sometimes too much explaiantions gets a bit too boring and i am saying this in the kindest manner with respect to you. I tried Amans stonewall for black but it never goes as planned. (Sometimes i think they r paid players to give him easy positions and all games look alike). What do you thjink of the stonewall for white and black? Can u do a rating climb using only stonewall? Do u think its a beautiful set up? You have got me into the Caro Kann mindset and i been beating bots and others online....i still dont know all the lines and variations but am getting good positions laytely and i think its a beautiful aggressive opening for black. So thank you for believeing into it. Wish u many successful games in the future and keep uploading useful content and more of caro please.

Yes but what if e4 - c6 - d4 - d5 - then e5 - then what?

Hello Alex ... what do you do if white castles on the queenside and throws the kingside pawns against your castling? do you have a video of such a game?

25:10 isn’t bishop h2 forced queen sac or mate if king takes

Improving adults sounds cool 😅 Also, these vids are becoming like chess-themed stand-up comedy with all the jokes you are mixing in with the educational content.

hey Alex, what would be the corresponding Caro-Kann opening for white? which opening would you suggest to 1000-1500 elo's ?

Why not q to h3 and then b to f 3

13:06 what about Qc7 attacking h2 with queen bishop battery? If you then play Bxh2 a lower rated player might be dumb enough to play Nxh2 instead of Kh1, not wanting to move their king, winning you a queen. (Would definitely work in low rated games, since my account is sitting down there right now and I am trying to climb, i know them too well)

needs a bit more trumpets, love the content

I did a little research, referencing the Lichess master database. There are basically 9 responses black can make that cover 99.9% of all games played after white begins with 1.e4. Obviously, at the master level, white wins the majority of the games, regardless of whatever defense black chooses. There are also many draws. I subtracted the percentage of games won by black from the percentage of games won by white. In the below list, I ranked them in order from most effective to least effective defense. The Caro-Kann does quite well in this regard. 1. 3% Sicilian 1...c5 (i.e. white wins only 3% more of the games than black) 2. 7% Modern 1...g6 3. 8% Caro-Kann 1...c6 4. 10% Double King Pawn 1...e5 5. 11% Nimzowitsch 1...Nc6 6. 12% French 1...e6 7. 12% Pirc 1...d6 8. 13% Alekhine 1...Nf6 9. 15% Scandanavian 1...d5 Which of the above, do you think, produces the most and the least number of draws? Most = Double King Pawn 50% draws Least = Nimzowitsch 34% draws Caro-Kann = 44% draws It's not a mystery as to *why* the Sicilian Defense is so popular, at least, at the master level. Also, it was interesting to note that the same type of analysis for 1.d4 indicates that there are far fewer defensive choices for black than after 1.e4. I suspect that has to do with the fact that 1.d4 is a *protected* pawn whereas 1.e4 is a vulnerable pawn. Also, the differential between white's wins and black's wins is in a much more stable range. No particular defense stands out as being notably better for black. For instance, with 1.e4 openings, statistically, white is FOUR TIMES more likely to win if playing the Sicilian Defense than the French Defense. There is no equivalent gap like that in the 1.d4 analysis. Almost all the defenses to 1.d4 fall within the range of 10-12% winning advantage for white.

Bro please make a video on ruy Lopez opening

Thanks. What is the best way to contact You?

I play Karo kan and they always play me the advanced variation, and th fantasy variation.

Actually this is my favorite position in caro kann

The trompowsky can get you a very similar pawn structure

Reading comments with Alex's accent 😁

Really pulled out a League reference 😂