Opening with white pawn to c3 or black pawn to c6

As either white or black this move confuses me because it opens no lanes for bishops and limits kingside knight to either a3 or a6. Can somebody explain this to me because I have seen it alot and I only play chess for fun at work and do not know any names of openings or a lot about notation.

Originally posted by Mguy81
As either white or black this move confuses me because it opens no lanes for bishops and limits kingside knight to either a3 or a6. Can somebody explain this to me because I have seen it alot and I only play chess for fun at work and do not know any names of openings or a lot about notation.

The Bishop lane opening comes later.

As Black, this line is called the Caro-Kann defense, and it mainly aims to control the d5 square.



The Knight can go to d7.

c3 probably will transpose into another opening. c6 is the dreaded Caro Kann. Very solid, and some say, boring.

Originally posted by Mguy81
I only play chess for fun at work and do not know any names of openings or a lot about notation.

Also note that the Queen has access to that diagonal so she can slip past all the paparazzi (pawns) on her way to met the enemy king

1 c3 is the Saragossa Opening, apparently:

http://www.redhotpawn.com/gamesexplorer/?movelist=c2c3&flip=0&co=-&u=-1&c=1400

I can't say I've seen this "a lot", or indeed ever... It certainly looks irregular to me, but I don't think I've ever played against it so I can't really comment on the ideas behind it.

My favourite 1.c3 game is....


Kinda makes one wanna switch to 1.c3 don`t you think.🙂