Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Prins Attack
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. b4
The Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Prins Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B12, reached after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. b4. 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 96 times by this move order. White won 45%, 6% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4… e6 (90% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.27 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 4… e6 5. c3 a5 6. b5 c5 7. Bd3)
- ECO
- B12
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pp2pppp/2p5/3pPb2/1P1P4/8/P1P2PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. b4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 26 | |
| 1500-1999 | 64 | |
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 96 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… e6 | 86 (90%) | |
| 4… a5 | 4 (4%) | |
| 4… Nd7 | 2 (2%) | |
| 4… f6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4… a6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4… b6 | 1 (1%) | |
| 4… b5 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
15 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 0%, Black 73%). The strongest:
- IM Daniel Barria Zuniga (2341) – GM Pavel Eljanov (2672) 0-1 · Titled Tue 2nd Jul Early · 2024-07-02
- IM Daniel Barria Zuniga (2341) – GM Rasmus Svane (2625) 0-1 · Titled Tue 8th Apr Late · 2025-04-08
- IM Daniel Barria Zuniga (2341) – GM Rasmus Svane (2624) 0-1 · Titled Tue 28th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-28
- IM Daniel Barria Zuniga (2341) – GM Maxime Lagarde (2622) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Jul 2026 · 2026-07-07
- IM Daniel Barria Zuniga (2341) – GM Aleksandr Shimanov (2578) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-25
Search all games of the Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Prins Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Stuff4me2teach (2132) – bchn1 (2181) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- BimBamU2 (2125) – bad64 (2134) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Stuff4me2teach (2170) – alasea (2075) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
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.