Caro-Kann Defense

Named after Horatio Caro and Marcus Kann, who analysed it in 1886. Black prepares ...d5 with ...c6 and keeps the light-squared bishop free; it is famous for its solidity and was a favourite of Anatoly Karpov.

It is reached after 2 moves: 1. e4 c6.

White is to move and has 30 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 456,786 different games. Those games reach 160,124 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 2.9 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 109 further lines after this position, such as Hillbilly Attack (2. Bc4) and Accelerated Panov Attack (2. c4).