Caro-Kann according to Supi — Part 1
The move that looks wrong — until you see why
Some positions are settled not because anyone proved them, but because everybody plays the same move. After 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3, the bishop goes to d6. It has gone to d6 for decades. In Caro-Kann according to Supi, GM Luis Supi asks what happens if it does not — and answers with 6...g6, a move that looks ugly for about ten seconds and then starts to look obvious.
What makes the repertoire different
Supi is candid about where the idea came from, and it was not an engine. He had grown uncomfortable in the main lines after 6...Bd6 — not because they are refuted, but because after 7.Bd3 O-O 8.Ne2 Re8 9.O-O Nd7 10.Bf4, White's play is so easy and natural that Black struggles to keep the game sharp enough to win. The position is objectively fine. It is simply not a fighting one.
At one point he found himself considering ...Bf8, retreating the bishop to make room for the pawn. And that was the moment the question inverted: if the bishop is not well placed on d6, why not put it on g7 in the first place?
Seen that way, the idea stops being strange. The plan ...g6, ...f5, ...Nf6 is a perfectly normal way to arrange these pieces — it just requires starting with the pawn rather than the bishop. Two things follow. Black's winning chances improve, and castling long becomes distinctly unattractive for White, which is precisely the imbalance the 6...Bd6 lines fail to produce.
The point is pressed further at move seven. After the main 7.Bd3, Supi recommends 7...a5, a position with fewer than ten games on record — and, in his assessment, no worse for Black at all. He calls it the most important part of his discovery, and the analysis is where the course spends its energy.
What holds the whole repertoire together is that this is not a one-game surprise. In Supi's words, the line has huge surprise value and is at the same time very solid, with no refutation at all — a weapon that keeps working after the novelty wears off.
Author and inspiration
The material comes out of several years of Supi's own work on the Caro-Kann. This first database concentrates entirely on the main line after 3.Nc3 (or 3.Nd2), the most critical road White has; Parts 2 and 3 will cover the remaining variations.
The course also handles White's serious attempts to avoid the debate at move six and seven — 6.Be3 and 6.Nf3 are both examined, as are 7.Bc4, 7.Nf3 and 7.h4 — so the recommendation is delivered as a repertoire rather than a single idea.
Map of variations
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ exf6 6.c3 g6!?
- 7.Bd3 a5!? — the main line and the heart of the discovery → Chapters 3–4
- 7.Bc4 — White's alternative development → Chapter 2
- 6.Be3 and 6.Nf3 — the sixth-move deviations → Chapter 1
What's inside
- 4 theoretical chapters
- 7 exercises with full solutions
- 10 annotated model games, including practical examples featuring Iturrizaga Bonelli, Maghsoodloo, Dardha and Piorun
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN availability (English, German, French, Spanish)
More from the author
If you would like more of Supi's repertoire work, he has a separate series covering White's play against the Sicilian: Supi vs the Sicilian.
Get the course
The Caro-Kann has spent years being played the same way from this position. 6...g6 is a genuinely new answer — solid enough to keep, sharp enough to win with, and unknown enough that your opponent will be thinking on his own within a move or two. Add Caro-Kann according to Supi — Part 1 to your Black repertoire and bring some fresh air to a line everyone thought was settled.