Caro Kann Players: What do you play as white?

What opening do you play as white? Do you usually play the caro kann or only occaisionally? What do you play in response to d4? what do you play if you face the caro kann? I personally play e4.  i go for the ruy lopez in a kings pawn game. i play the slav in response to d4 and i play the smith morra in response to the scicillian.

I like 1..e6 or 1....e5 for 1.e4 and i play almost everything against 1.d4 but i like the benoni,although i don't use it very often

I only occasionally play caro kann, but it goes in with the drawing repertoire of CK, slav and london

I play Vienna as white and caro against e4 and slav against everything else. I would look at the closed sicilian against the sicilian.

I always play the caro-kann, except in some just-for fun games.

I play the semi-slav against d4 and e4 as white. Facing the caro, I play the classical variation.

Caro players should try the Saragasso as White (1. c3)

The above suggestion shouldn't be taken too seriously.

I play the Caro almost exclusively against 1.e4 and Semi-Slav against 1.d4, and 1...c6 against 1.c4. Basically, c6 and d5 against everything, but the order of the first two moves can vary. Against 1.f4 I prefer 1...e5 though.

As White, I play 1.e4, and against the Caro I play two different lines depending on the move-order. There is one move-order where I will play a Panov (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.d4) but against the standard Caro move-order I play two different versions of the Advance variation: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 and 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nd2. Against 3...c5 I play both 4.Nf3 and 4.dxc5, with a slight preference for the first move.

I really like the light-square strategy as Black, and find that I am comfortable with my positions basically no matter what White throws at me. As White I am a bit more thorough in my opening preparation, and I have a database of wins I have collected because of this preparation that is slowly growing. I've won 100% of my tournament Sicilians as White since I started playing the Open Sicilian (admittedly with no opponent significantly higher than 2200) and have a similar record against 1...e5 and 1...e6 in the last few years, with a couple of losses and draws but mostly wins. 1...c6 is a tougher nut to crack, perhaps because I play it myself.

Why not? Wouldn't the Saragasso lead to familiar Caro-type positions, but with a move in hand?

Nope. Black is under no obligation to play 1...e5, and if he did, any IQP resulting positions could involve a Black pawn at d7 instead of d5, where it will be less exposed. Also, White is under pressure to play for an advantage from move one or lose the relevance of the first move, and 1.c3 does not make optimal use of this move, or even semi-optimal use. By assuming a first move will transpose meaningfully to a relevant structure, we risk it not transposing in a way that is useful.

The position after 1.c3 Nf6 2.d4 d5 should be pretty equal, but is unlikely to lead to anything resembling a Caro-Kann. It can be compared to 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c6.

1.c3 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 leads to a reversed Yugoslav KIA, but one of the main reasons this is considered to be okay for Black is that exchanging the Knight and putting pawns on dark squares to play against the Bishop makes it harder for White to generate an advantage, but playing an attempt at equalizing from the White side doesn't make as much sense. That being said, I doubt a kingside fianchetto is the critical response to 1.c3.

1.c3 c5 is a nice try, where 2.e4 leads to an Alapin Sicilian but 2.d4 cxd4 3.cxd4 d5 is a Slav Exchange, nothing like a Caro-Kann.

1.c3 e6 2.d4 c5 is another independent line that will not resemble any kind of Caro. 1.c4 c6 2.e3 d5 is the reversed position from the English, which is not terribly unusual I guess.

But my main point is that 1.c3 intending 2.d4 is not likely to garner White any advantage and therefore should not be a serious recommendation for the use of the first move. There are situations in the Caro-Kann where Black might prefer to have one tempo less, even. One notable example is in the Advance Variation, where after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5, Black would love White to already have Nf3 in so he could play 3...Bg4. This is one reason why 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 is so bad, because Black can play Bg4 right away. (That doesn't mean that 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 Bg4 is good though!)

Agree with expertise. As white u should be pushing for an advantage :) 

Im a caro kann player. The only reason i play it is because its solid and leads to a completely equal middle game.

+10, And you thereby save yourself an immense amount of blather in the forums discussing white openings ENDLESSLY, (and keeping the first move advantage).  Smart cookie.

Against the Caro Kann Defense I have the following White openings:

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c4 Diemer Duhm Gambit (Caro Kann Variation)

1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Qb3 Orthoschnapp Khan Gambit
I wrote an article on this at Chessville.

1.e4 c6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2 Papa Gambit (Caro Kann Variation)

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nf3 Ulysses Gambit
I had played this at the Hawaii State Class Championship during
the 1980’s and defeated Patrick Perry (2100) in my last round
game to win the tournament championship. And also played this

against Eric Schiller at the First Hawaii International during the
1990s but lost that game. Eric Schiller talks about this gambit in
his book called Unorthodox Chess Openings. He actually gave
a favorable review for this opening.

These gambits can also be played against the French Defense.

Best Regards
DarthMusashi

Your talk on openings, @FirebrandX, is always excellent, as you're playing, checking, and working through engine analysis, backed up by GM theory books.  More power to you.  Pleasure to read your many posts.

I was referring to the hoi polloi discussants, who always self indentify, and eventually draw in IM @Phren to clean up their mess.

Not that's there's anything wrong with talking endlessly about openings, unless you're rated under USCF 1800-1900.  Then, you're probably just wasting potential study time.

It's much more important what you play from the black side, rather than the white side, assuming you're rated under USCF 1800-1900, OTB.

But openings are mostly a matter of personal taste.

Indeed, last time I broke 1800 OTB, I was playing a reversed Caro-Kann with a kingside fianchetto.  Simple but solid.  Nuff said?

And if new players are SERIOUS about studying openings, here's as good a place as any to start--Johan Hellsten, Mastering Opening Strategy, Everyman Chess (2012).

And you're a bullet junkie, @Sandwich, whose weak play (and lazy study) shows up clearly in your much lower Blitz and Standard ratings.  Q.E.D.

The laugh is on you, unfortunately.

DarthMusashi, I thought the dumb Diemer gambit was 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4? or just 1.d4 d5 2.e4? or 1.e4 d5 2.d4? ;)

zborg - I see no reason to reply so rudely to Samsch's harmless post about that thread of quotes which seems reasonably humorous?

Darth is talking about the diemer-duhm not the blackmar-diemer

Sorry, I couldn't see the difference there. Was it just the word order?

For White, I play c4(the english opening), d4, and f4 ( the Bird's opening.) For Black I play the Pirc against 1. e4, and the Dutch Stonewall against 1.d4. Hope this helps!

I play the classical variation vs the caro, 3.Nc3, because it seems the most logical (I may be too dogmatic sometimes) but also I'm comfortable in the positions that come out of it.

I play e4 as white.  Semi-slav against d4, and remain undecided on what to play against e4 (I really don't like openings heh).  Online I'll usually play 1...d5 and in tournaments I've tried a little bit of everything.