DESTROY the Caro-Kann against class players (with one simple opening)

Throughout my short chess career, I've played openings of various qualities, but my favorite opening for black to play against me is the Caro-Kann, and especially if my opponent is a class level player (class B or lower, generally). 

At this level, I think there exists a system which gives white a perfect middlegame that is extremely easy to play (the best moves flow naturally), presses for an edge, and often leads to strong attacks against unwary black players.

When you play against class-level players, they very often don't know how to handle the black pieces in a challenging way (which should lead to equality), and often get demolished. 

This is the opening:

Almost didn't bother reading because so much troll crap.

But this does look appealing for something simple I could play right away. Occupy e5 with a piece, then do normal attacking stuff. Like a QGD exchange as black, but with better placed pieces.

As far as I know, 4...Nc6 5 c3 Qc7= is meant to equalize pretty comfortably

Out of many Caro-Kanns I've played against, the first player to use that line against me was an FM.

Obviously these opponents didn't play ideally, but interestingly you managed to get a winning kingside attack in the game where there was a queen trade and in the game where black finachettoed.

Useful material! I will definitely try it. 

I generally play 4. c4 in this variation - sometimes even masters aren't familiar with some finer theoretical points in this knife-edge variation (I refer to the one where you get doubled pawns on f3). 

What you offer here is a refreshing alternative, that definitely connects to themes from QGD/Slav-type positions. Like!

I like to play this with White. It's really simple and you get to just play a structure and don't need to know much theory.

I kind of like this.

nice post, but all your opponents are much lower rated, by 200-300 points. You could've won if you played pretty much anything, as long as you didn't make any mistakes. 

Yes. Unfortunately, I can't show you the games I've played when I was a class player, but I can tell you that my playing strength was only a bit worse in this opening, since the moves were so simple - as a 1600, I played nearly the exact same opening/early middlegame moves I played in the games above, getting similar results against under 1800 competition.

I didn't even know theory, just played the most obvious moves. 

All the players at my level can pretty much make this opening harmless, and often it leads to weird positions later where we both make a bunch of mistakes.

Very interesting... was expecting to see the Gunderam Attack actually

But this looks like a relatively safer way to generate an attack on the black king.

Very instructive nice games!!!

I play the setup which you showed in the first diagram whenever my opponent plays the caro kann because I don't  know any other lines, picked it somewhere i don't remember

Stockfish says,  6.... g6 ! on depth 30 and above with evaluation +0.20 for white . (Bg4 leave a vulnerable b7 pawn.)  And also on 8...... Nh5!! not 8... Bg4.

5...Qc7 indeed gives Black pretty easy play. As a Caro-Kann player, the Exchange is probably the variation I fear the least.

I agree this is a good system to play against people who play the Caro-Kann but haven't bothered to learn the ideas behind the opening and the initial traps, but I think Black gets equality with good play.

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 4 Bd3 Nc6 5 c3 are the standard moves for the exchange variation since Bobby Fischer played 4 Bd3 vs Tigran Petrosian and won in 1970.

But today, the modern response to denying the Black QB the f5 square is to deny White the f4 square with 5...Qc7.  That stops your 6 Bf4.

Your 1620 opponent doesn't seem to know the ideas behind the Caro-Kann, In the first, he doesn't understand that the main thing you do with the Black QB is exchange it - he should have done so as soon as the White Queen moved. And ...a6 just wastes a tempo.  In the second, he played e6, blocking in the QB even though d5 wasn't threatened.

Personally, against the Caro-Kann, I like the way the Advance Variation gives Black problems trying to develop his KN and KB.  Opening Explorer says it wins for White 43% of the time with 28% draws compared to 34% White wins with the Exchange and 37% draws, both variations resulting in 29% Black wins.  Of course, those numbers don't include many people who play the opening without studying it first.

Black does get equality with decent play. The only players who have played the ...Qc7 line against me have been at least 1900 OTB rated players. 

Well... if Cherub's method doesn't work, there's still the most-feared weapon in White's enture arsenal.. the Gunderam Attack! It's not an easy weapon to use though... gotta be clued up on how to play on the light sqr weaknesses while fighting for control of key dark sqrs,

Move 5 is way too early for the c5 push. 5...e5! gives Black a very good game.

It's not easy to use. Really gotta know what you're doing but the basic theme is simple... fight for the dark sqrs, attack the light sqrs, push your queenside pawns. But these are surely useful skills for everyone, even if Gunderam Attack is not your cup of tea.