A recurring theme in the Caro-Kann Short Variation
This was a game between Mark Paragua and Daniel Gurevich from the US Chess League in 2015. Once again, the bishop on f5 is a kind of keystone for black’s position. It’s black’s most active piece aside from the queen, and is even helping to give the queen an escape square on c2 in the event that white plays Ra3. The second point provides a concrete justification for Rxf5 in this example, though it turns out that white does not immediately win material.
As in the first example, white is down the exchange and a pawn. However, white will most likely regain the f5 pawn, and he has two healthy center pawns, two powerful bishops, and chances for an attack against black’s king based on his domination of the light squares. Here’s how the rest of the game went:
