Books > BO-Opening-Caro-Kann

Title: Play the Caro-Kann Author: Jovanka Houska Language: Pages: 208 Cover: Paperback Published: 2007 Publisher: Everyman Chess Homepage: http://everymanchess.com Price: € 22,50 ISBN: 9781857444346 Reviewed by: IM Rasmus Skytte Date: 1/9 2007

Play the Caro-Kann

A repertoire book by English international master Jovanka Houska (first opening book ever by a female player?). After many years where no one wrote about the Caro-Kann, there has suddenly been published several books, following various concepts. This one tries to provide black players with a full repertoire against 1.e4, recommending variations against both the main line (3…Nc3), The Panov Attack, Advance Variation etc.

As with most repertoire books, you are mostly given just one option for the side it roots for, whereas, for instance, those published by the team Karpov and Podgaets, try to go more in detail with the current status of a certain variation, providing several options for both sides (though they are also obviously written from a black point of view).

Contents

The material is divided into the following sections:

• Bibliography
• Introduction

1. Main Line: Introduction and 11 Bf4
2. Main Line: 11 Bd2
3. Main Line: 6 Bc4 and Early Deviations
4. Panov-Botvinnik Attack: Introduction and 6 Nf3
5. Panov-Botvinnik Attack: 6 Bg5
6. Exchange Variation
7. Advance Variation with 3…c5: Introduction
8. Advance Variation: 3…c5 4 dxc5
9. Fantasy Variation
10. Panov’s Little Brother: 2 c4
11. Two Knights Variation
12. King’s Indian Attack
13. Unusual Lines and the Plain Bizarre

• Index of Variations

It seems to be written for club players (let’s say 1500-2200), looking for an easy and solid reply to e4. And Houska does quite a good job at this, explaining first the basic ideas in a given position and then moving on to the concrete theory. The variations she has chosen are mostly sidelines (pretty natural, as otherwise it would be an impossible task to cover all the theory in the book’s 200 A5 pages), but more or less all have an acceptable reputation (you might say good, but given it’s from the black point of view, we’ll be more ‘modest’ in the evaluation) and are regularly played by 2600+ players, giving the basis of a pretty sound repertoire.

Houska remains fairly objective throughout the book, which certainly also is a must nowadays, if you want something for your repertoire, otherwise people will sooner or later just use their computer programs and out-prepare you. But obviously, as it’s a book of only 200 pages, Houska does get around many critical variations a bit too fast. She often mentions continuations which have appeared in practical games, but fails to mention the obvious improvements, which most computer programs, and certainly Rybka and Fritz which she has used, will tell you in a split-second. And that must be more important when we are very close to the theory, especially when there are improvements for black, than getting the next 10 moves down a ‘wrong’ path.

Also, it should be mentioned that in several of the variations, it’s very hard to play for a win with black. That is of course something you have to accept, if you want a sound and solid repertoire with black, but it would have been nice if Houska had recommended some extra possibilities for black, aimed at the purpose of playing for a win.

Advance Variation with 3…c5

One of the more interesting suggestions in the book is the reply 3…c5 against the advance variation. It is still a rare guest at grandmaster level, but even players such as Kramnik, Karpov and Akopian have used it, and German ‘super-grandmaster’ Igor Khenkin practically always opts for it.

In the probably most testing line of the variation, which arises after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 e6 5.Be3 Nh6 6.c3, Houska recommends 6…Nd7!?

Almost a novelty – in the Chessbase Megabase 2007 it only appears in one game between two junior amateurs – but a pretty logical move. And indeed it seems to be a reasonable line. With several pages of interesting and original analysis, along with her usual excellent explanations, Houska arms you with likely much more knowledge and concrete theory than your opponents will have, no matter their level!