Openings · B12

Caro-Kann, Advance

The Advance French's structure against a defence that gets its bishop out first — which changes what it is worth.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5played as White

The idea

The pawn chain is the same as the Advance French, and so is the extra space. The difference is 3…Bf5: Black's light-squared bishop leaves before …e6 shuts the door, so the long-term plus of the French version is simply missing.

White plays against the bishop instead. The modern main line is the Short System — 4.Nf3, Be2, O-O — a quiet game where the pressure comes from c4 against d5 and h4–h5 against the bishop, rather than from space on its own.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 30/3

1.e4c6
2.d4d5
3.e5

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Offering to trade the good bishop

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Bd3 Bxd3 5.Qxd3 e6

The mistake: Playing 4.Bd3 to exchange the bishop that has just come out.
Why it costs: It is the wrong bishop to be pleased about trading. The one on f5 has already done its job by escaping; the one on d3 is White's attacker on the b1–h7 diagonal, the piece that makes the extra space mean something. After the trade Black has no bad pieces at all.
Instead: 4.Nf3 and 5.Be2, or 4.Nc3 hitting the bishop. Ask it a question rather than buy it out.

Chasing the bishop while d4 hangs

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5

The mistake: Spending moves on g4 and h4 to hunt the bishop with the centre still unsupported.
Why it costs: …c5 is Black's counterplay in every Caro-Kann structure, and here it arrives while White's pawns are on the other wing and the king is still in the middle. Kingside pawn moves are only free when d4 is not being attacked.
Instead: c3 or Be3 first. The bishop on g6 is not going anywhere, and it can be chased later with the centre nailed down.

Treating it like the French

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Nd7 6.O-O Ne7 7.c3 c5

The mistake: Playing for a slow squeeze on space and never touching d5 or the bishop.
Why it costs: In the French, space alone is enough, because Black owns a piece that cannot move. Here Black finishes with …Ne7, …c5 and …Nc6, every piece on a sensible square, and the extra room turns into nothing whatever.
Instead: Pick a target: c4 against d5, or h4–h5 against the bishop on g6. The Short System is quiet, not passive.

Where it fits

The Caro-Kann, Advance is a variation of the Caro-Kann Defence, whose page covers the ideas this one takes for granted.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.