Opening Leak Lab

Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation

B13 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nc6

White scores 50.5% here across 494 club games — but the 13.6% who answer Nc3 score 38.8%, 12 points worse.

What White actually plays here

Across 494 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 50.5% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.

ReplyGamesShare White scoresVerdict
Nf3 140 28.3% 50.0% holds up
c4 136 27.5% 54.0% holds up
Bd3 89 18.0% 57.9% holds up
Nc3 67 13.6% 38.8% below the line
Bb5+ 36 7.3% 33.3% below the line

"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.

Is this costing you anything?

A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.

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