Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Short Variation

Chess opening · ECO B12 · 7 half-moves

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3

The Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Short Variation is reached after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3. It is Black's move in the position shown.

It branches from the Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation with 3… Bf5 4. Nf3.

How often it is played

The Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Short Variation and its variations appeared in 0.19% of games — 5,799 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 189 of the openings listed here.

Results

White won 49%, 4.2% were drawn and Black won 47%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.

What the engine thinks

Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.29 — a small edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.

Similar openings

The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.

Check your own games

Paste a game, or share one straight from lichess or chess.com, and Chess Analyzer names the opening, marks where the game left known theory and grades every move after it.