First the good news: There is finally a book out that teaches you the whole of the Caro-Kann (there are books on the advanced Caro, the main line Caro, the Panov-Botvinnik Attack in the Caro, but almost nothing current on the Caro as a whole). Note the word “teach.” The idea here is to give you the key lines (for both sides – the author insists that it’s not written for one side or the other), explain them, and then send you on your way as a spanking new worshipper of the Caro-Kann, or as an 1.e4 player bent on destroying the Caro in his own games. STARTING OUT: THE CARO-KANN has everything it needs to succeed: Joe Gallagher wrote it (he always does an excellent job); the content is presented in an eye-pleasing manner; the text offers up many key principles of correct Caro play; and it gives tips, warnings, and exercises to ensure you have some semblance of a clue when you finally decide to give it a whirl.

Now the bad news: this book is only 192 pages. This might seem a lot, but let’s consider the fact that Aagaard’s EASY GUIDE TO THE PANOV-BOTVINNIK ATTACK is 128 pages, Jacobs THE CARO-KANN ADVANCE is 144 pages, McDonald’s MAIN LINE CARO-KANN is 143 pages, and Silman’s old, out of print THE DYNAMIC CARO-KANN (a whole book just on 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6) is 182 pages. Let’s further take into account that all these books combined don’t come close to covering all the possible lines in the Caro-Kann. See the problem? A true, “complete” Caro-Kann book would be at least 800 pages!

So what does all this mean? Just that the whole “Starting Out” Everyman series is designed for a specific audience: Class C (1400) to Expert (2199) – lower players need something more basic, while stronger players will get upset about what’s missing.

STARTING OUT: THE CARO-KANN is well presented and Gallagher writes from a position of authority. He covers many lines extremely well, but if you look closely, there are enormous gaps (Don’t forget, he’s been told to keep the number of pages down!). One such example occurs on page 58 after the moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.dxc5 and now his main move is 10…Bxc5 (which is the most popular choice). He mentions the possibility of 10…Nbd7!? (an old favorite of mine) and gives a few moves of analysis, but this is more or less useless and puts anyone who runs into this as White in a very tenuous situation. The tiny taste he gives of 10…Nbd7 also makes new Caro players want to know more, since it seems extremely interesting. The result: frustration for players on both sides of the fence!

The book’s weakest coverage occurs after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 (some of the things Gallagher says about the resulting positions that arise from 5.Nxf6+ exf6 are particularly simplistic and, therefore, suspect), and after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 (the Panov-Botvinnik Attack). One example in the Panov-Botvinnik: (after 4.c4) 4…Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3 Be7 (his coverage of the critical 6…Bb4 is way too skimpy!) 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Re1 Bf6 11.Be4 Nce7 12.Ne5 and now he shows how White is better after 12…g6. He says that 12…Bd7 might be a slight improvement, ignoring the fact that Black is fine after the real (rather surprising) improvement: 12…Nc6!. White now has a choice between 13.Nxc6 bxc6, which is nothing for Black to worry about, and 13.Nf3 Nce7 when White must either accept a draw after 14.Ne5 Nc6, or look for something other than 14.Ne5.

The simple truth is, the intended rating span covers the vast majority of tournament players and is therefore very useful to a large number of Caro haters and lovers. There’s some really good material, lots of explanation, but also a few subtle “blindsides” that are common to books with limited page allocations. At times I actually learned some things, and at other times I moaned in pain at a “little white lie.” But if we gloss over these occasional rocky moments, STARTING OUT: THE CARO-KANN is a welcome addition to Caro-Kann literature and is an excellent buy for anyone who wants to delve into either side of this opening. In fact, at the moment it’s clearly the best book available on Caro-Kann basics.

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