Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5
The Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Botvinnik-Carls Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B12, reached after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5. It is a line of the Caro-Kann Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 37,331 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4. c3 (51% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Nxc6 bxc6)
- ECO
- B12
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp2pppp/8/2ppP3/3P4/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 12,497 | |
| 1500-1999 | 19,751 | |
| 2000+ | 5,083 | |
| All | 37,331 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. c3 | 19,123 (51%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 7,220 (19%) | |
| 4. dxc5 | 6,237 (17%) | |
| 4. Bb5+ | 1,347 (4%) | |
| 4. Be3 | 941 (3%) | |
| 4. c4 | 837 (2%) | |
| 4. f4 | 811 (2%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 243 (1%) |
Master games
13,397 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 19%, Black 35%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-23
- Stockfish dev-20250118-8e3e22b (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-c93c6a8-BT4-61 (3652) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Theory Bonus · 2025-01-23
- Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) – LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-02
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-01
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5107404-T2-5230000 (3633) – KomodoDragon 3.2 (3587) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 25 Premier P/O 2023 · 2023-10-04
Highest-rated Lichess games
- evg85 (2805) – FleakyGorgoz (2880) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- puziko52 (2843) – Pyama_Ninja (2815) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- IM GregShahade (2645) – FleakyGorgoz (2862) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 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.