Why are so many people recommending the Caro Kann?

@TaleOfTheNoob said in #3:
> Then why does it only have a 48% win rate?

Bro on average white has a higher winrate in all traditional openings. However, if you are looking for a stupid opening with more black wins, go play the Alekhine.

So true - Alekhine is OP at club level.

@TaleOfTheNoob said in #1:
> People say that it is a free win, it can instantly demolish anyone under x elo, etc...
If I had to guess, it’s because its easier to explain the ideas in it... Trade light squares bishop, control yada yada squares ect.. I’m not a fan of in myself and never played it personally. I do not mind playing against it either.
It’s also relatively simple way to get clickbait views on a video I’m sure.

One possible reason why so many coaches and youtubers recommend/like the Caro-Kann is because of playstyle and opening repertoire.
Usually, someone who plays or want to play the Caro-Kann wants to be in a positional game, not have problems with the pawn structure nor have too much tactisc happening at the board. The common answer for that would usually be play 1. e4 e5; but some aggressive plans of white might have unsettled the black player, so they have the Caro-Kann as another weapon.
Another important reason is that if black plays it the way it is supposed to be played, the position of the king is rock solid and it's black who is calling out the shots with c5 and usually with a deadly avalanche on the queen side.
Be aware that white also has ideas of it's own, and he might trade everything in the center or launch his own avalanche of pawns. A model player is Karpov, who used it for many years.

Solidity, no risk to fall in a deadly Trap, good control of the center and possible counter play on c.

@Eireahmhon said in #6:
> I don't even know what caro kann is
Its a opening of chess, search it on youtube. You must be a new player.

I attempted the Caro when I was a novice. but I soon change to other openings.
Generally speaking, Caro is good, but it lacks various themes and does not lead to much complex situations like sicilian/KID. And I think for intermediate player the key to improvement was to go complicated instead of trading a bunch of pieces.

It's extremely difficult to win in an equal position. Especially for openings like Caro and the Bowdler attack of Sicilian. this is applicable to both noobs and GMs (e.g. GM Daniel get outplayed sometimes on his speedrun)

@Eireahmhon said in #6:
> I don't even know what caro kann is

If only everyone could say that.

And OP, you may win with the Caro-Kann...but it doesn't "demolish" anyone. ;)

@Wasted_Youth said in #9:
> I ́d make Levy from GothamChess responsible for the new-found popularity. He loves playing it, he ́s always recommending it, and that must have rubbed off onto a sizeable percentage of his 4.3 million viewers.
>
> Must say I ́m grateful to him, I had finally to get to grips with playing against it as White after it kept popping up so regularly.

I love GothamChess. He makes a video with his mouth wide open in the thumbnail called "DESTROY EVERYONE with (tricky opening)." I learn to play against that tricky opening and bag a bunch of ezkills. Works better on chess.com.