Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Flohr Variation
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nh3
The Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation, Flohr Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B18, reached after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nh3. 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 57%, 10% were drawn and Black won 33%. The most popular continuation is 6… Nf6 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.06 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6… Nf6 7. Nf4 e5 8. Nxg6 hxg6 9. dxe5)
- ECO
- B18
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pp2pppp/2p3b1/8/3P4/6NN/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 4 6- PGN
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nh3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 18 | |
| 2000+ | 32 | |
| All | 51 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Nf6 | 16 (31%) | |
| 6… e6 | 13 (25%) | |
| 6… Nd7 | 11 (22%) | |
| 6… h6 | 10 (20%) | |
| 6… c5 | 1 (2%) |
Master games
494 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 31%, Black 28%). The strongest:
- GM Peter Svidler (2727) – GM Anish Giri (2793) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2015 · 2015-09-29
- GM Pentala Harikrishna (2753) – GM David Navara (2734) 1/2-1/2 · IMSA Basque 2016 · 2016-03-02
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2726) – GM Vladislav Artemiev (2691) 1-0 · 2nd IMSA Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-11
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2715) – GM Ernesto Inarkiev (2654) 1/2-1/2 · Mark Dvoretsky Mem 2021 · 2021-02-11
- GM Peter Svidler (2729) – GM Andrey Esipenko (2624) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2019 · 2019-09-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- puziko52 (2811) – IM Kostik_Mostik (2915) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- puziko52 (2855) – kuhmft (2803) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Siiiiiii007 (2567) – Knuspermeister2 (2715) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Caro-Kann Defense: Classical Variation (4. Nxe4 Bf5) 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5
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.