If you play it
The Caro-Kann fails through passivity far more often than through tactics. Solid is a starting point, not a plan: if you never generate counterplay you get squeezed on a board you never actually lost.
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Caro-Kann Defense
Played by BlackBlack gets a sound structure and, unlike in the French, develops the light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain before closing it in. Slow, sturdy, hard to break.
From 4,053 games by 824 Chess.com players of every level, September 2026.
Black's score with the Caro-Kann Defense, by rating
- Under 100051.7% ±2.9
In line with Black's average at this level (48.2%). 1,129 games by 285 players · 3.5% draws
- 1000–139950.0% ±5.5
In line with Black's average at this level (47.6%). 320 games by 76 players · 3.8% draws
- 1400–179945.6% ±8.0
In line with Black's average at this level (48.6%). 149 games by 31 players · 6.7% draws
- 1800+40.9% ±14.5
In line with Black's average at this level (45.9%). 44 games by 10 players · 4.5% draws
The marker on each bar is Black's average score across all openings at that rating and time control. We only call an opening above or below that average when the gap is far beyond the margin (±) — about 1.7 times it — because we compare dozens of openings at once, and chance alone would make a few of them look special.
The typical mistake
If you face it
The Caro-Kann does not lose quickly, it waits. Points go missing by pressing too early against a structure with no weaknesses, instead of building slowly and keeping the extra space you were given.
Most played lines
- Caro Kann Defense49.1% of the sample's games in this opening
- Caro Kann Defense Exchange Variation14.9% of the sample's games in this opening
- Caro Kann Defense Advance Variation6.5% of the sample's games in this opening
- Caro Kann Defense Advance Botvinnik Carls Defense5.0% of the sample's games in this opening
- Caro Kann Defense Advance Short Variation with4.6% of the sample's games in this opening
Each line opens its theory page on Chess.com.
How do you score with the Caro-Kann Defense?
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How these numbers are made
Every week we draw about 1,008 Chess.com players at random from the public player lists of twelve countries, never one already drawn in the previous weeks, and read their rated games from the last complete month. These numbers add up the latest 2 weekly samples: 2,016 players, 1,382 of whom played in September 2026. A game counts once even if both players are in the sample, and no single player can add more than 10 games to the same opening and time control, so one enthusiast cannot tilt the numbers. Rating bands use the average rating of the two players in that time control, because ratings are not comparable between blitz and rapid. Bands with fewer than 40 games or 10 players are shown but not judged. The score counts a draw as half a point. The ± is a 95% margin, but a gap is only judged beyond 3.3 standard errors: with many openings compared at once, a looser line would flag openings by pure chance. Players on this site are never part of the sample.