Caro-Kann Defense: Advance, Short Variation
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Be2
The Caro-Kann Defense: Advance, Short Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B12, reached after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Be2. It is a line of the Caro-Kann Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 51 times by this move order. White won 45%, 2% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 5… c5 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 5… c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Bg6 8. Be3)
- ECO
- B12
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pp3ppp/2p1p3/3pPb2/3P4/2P5/PP2BPPP/RNBQK1NR b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 5. Be2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 17 | |
| 1500-1999 | 28 | |
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 51 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… c5 | 21 (41%) | |
| 5… Nd7 | 12 (24%) | |
| 5… Ne7 | 7 (14%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 3 (6%) | |
| 5… h6 | 2 (4%) | |
| 5… Qb6 | 1 (2%) | |
| 5… a6 | 1 (2%) | |
| 5… Nh6 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 75%, draw 0%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- IM Ernesto J. Fernandez Guillen (2462) – GM Sanan Sjugirov (2705) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th Oct Early · 2023-10-24
- Daniel Ebeling (2328) – Erik Ronka (2074) 1-0 · 22nd HOF Open 2012 · 2012-07-13
- Stepan Sozin (2225) – Anton Isaev (2072) 1-0 · 17th Petr Izmailov · 2013-06-19
- Gonulden Seda Alev (1632) – Emilija Zdilar (1885) 1-0 · 31st World Junior Girls · 2013-09-24
Search all games of the Caro-Kann Defense: Advance, Short Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Wayne_03 (2265) – AhmadNGm (2140) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
- BDjisan2 (2202) – dww070 (2103) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- Roth2016 (2109) – terraluna10 (2137) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5
More Caro-Kann Defense lines (all)
- Caro-Kann Defense (1. e4 c6) B10
- Caro-Kann Defense (1… c6 2. Nc3) B10
- Caro-Kann Defense (2. Nc3 d5) B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack (1… c6 2. c4) B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack (2. c4 d5) B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack, Modern Variation B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack, Open Variation B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack, Pseudo-Scandinavian B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Accelerated Panov Attack, Van Weersel Attack B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Apocalypse Attack B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Breyer Variation B10
- Caro-Kann Defense: Breyer Variation, Stein Attack B10
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.