Caro Kann: Advanced Variation

With 3.e5 in the Advanced Variation of the Caro Kann, White immediately gains more space and more room to maneuver for a kingside attack.  By clear contrast, Black's position is cramped in part because the king knight cannot safely reach f6. If there is a problem for White, it is that 3.e5 is committal.  As a consequence, Black will immediately be able to post the usually bad-light-squared bishop on f5, itself a target but certainly more active than it would be after 3e6. White will aim to develop quickly, coordinating that development in an effort to attack on the kingside. In many variations, White can gain time by attacking Black's light-squared bishop, but there are very few occasions when the bishop actually gets into meaningful trouble. By contrast, Black will counter on the queenside, usually with c5, a move which in itself costs a tempo (Black had already played c6). The alternative is to attack the central pawn chain at the head with f6. Unlike [...]many other inexpensive chess e-books, these are fully annotated in understandable, simple language.  The profuse use of diagrams make these among the first chess books that you can read WITHOUT A BOARD at your side. Jon Edwards won the 10 th United States Correspondence Championship in 1997 and the 8 th North American Invitational Correspondence Chess Championship in 1999.