Openings · B10–B19
The French's solidity without the bad bishop: …c6 first, so the bishop gets out before …e6 shuts the door.
1.e4 c6played as Black
Play it through on the board below, and 6 moves into the main line.
You play Black; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded. The line runs on past the moves that define the opening and into the main line, because two moves is not a drill.
White is answering…
1…c6 prepares …d5 with the c-pawn instead of the e-pawn. The point is move order: after …d5 and an exchange on e4, the bishop comes out to f5 or g4 first, and only then does …e6 go in behind it.
The cost is a tempo and a slightly passive game. Black is rarely worse and rarely much better; the wins come from the endgames the structure produces.
Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.
From 18,822 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.
After 1.e4 c6, these are White's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing White's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 3 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.
The engine's main line from d4: d4 d5 e5 Bf5 h4 h5 c4 e6.
Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.
The lines out of it with pages of their own: Caro-Kann, Advance and Caro-Kann, Exchange.
