Mastering the Caro-Kann Defense (Schekachikhin) Review

We cannot give a full verdict, because we only saw a search listing. At the listed $17.99 the money at risk is small; the larger cost is the weeks you would spend learning a repertoire, so check its chapter list against all of White's main tries, and test the "avoid heavy theory" promise, since at least four named chapters deal with one line of the Advance. If you want a course whose contents we could read, the Dreev course from Modern Chess is better documented.

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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken this course. This page is based on search listings seen on 8 November 2026; we could not open TheChessWorld's product page directly. How we review explains the limits.

This review has no star score. Fit, price and limits are set out instead, and how reviews are made is public.

What the listing says it contains

As shown in search listings on 8 November 2026, TheChessWorld lists "Mastering the Caro-Kann Defense" by IM Maksim Schekachikhin (the listing gives his FIDE rating as 2450) at $17.99, down from $59.95. Its pitch is a "fighting repertoire" for Black that goes after White's centre, avoids "heavy theory" and creates winning chances. Chapters 11 to 14 appear in the listing as "Mainline, Short Variation" parts 2 to 5. The listing showed 0 store reviews. All of this is the seller's description.

We did not see the running time, the full chapter list, a level range, a publication date or a refund policy. That means we could not read them, not that they are missing from the live page. No user opinion of this course turned up in our research.

Does "avoid heavy theory" hold up?

It may, but the listing's own chapter titles are a reason to check. The Short Variation is 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2, named after Nigel Short, and it is a line of the Advance in which White develops quietly and keeps the space. Parts 2 to 5 imply a part 1, so we read this as probably five chapters on one system, though that is an inference from the numbering.

Other authors treat the same system as a serious theoretical problem. Modern Chess's page for Eljanov's Part 1 calls it "the most dangerous of the most dangerous" and gives it five chapters. So "low theory" here could mean any of three things, and only the third is a real saving:

1. Many lines, explained lightly. The chapters exist, but they teach plans rather than moves to memorise.
2. Many lines, in full. The label is marketing and the work is the same as any other repertoire.
3. A deliberate sideline. Black picks a rarer move so that White's preparation matters less, which cuts memorisation but relies on the idea still holding up.

The free preview or the chapter titles should tell you which it is. If the chapters are labelled by move number deep into the game, it is probably the second.

What a low-theory Caro-Kann repertoire has to give you

A low-theory repertoire still needs one clear decision against each White system. The questions below are conventional opening preparation, and they are what we would look for in the chapter list.

The experts disagree on the first row. A ChessBase review of Rosell's course, on ChessBase's own news site and so not independent, says he recommends 3...c5 against the Advance, whereas Eljanov's series starts from 3...Bf5. A low-theory course that uses 3...c5 would be a different study job from one that spends five chapters on the Short Variation with 3...Bf5.

What the $17.99 actually risks

Not much cash, if the sale price is what you are charged. From the two listed figures, the discount is about 70%: ($59.95 - $17.99) / $59.95. We have one observation on one day, so we cannot say how long the sale lasts, whether $59.95 is ever charged, or what you will see when you look.

Without published hours we cannot give a cost per hour, but the sums are simple once you see the running time. For illustration only: 3 hours would be $6.00 per hour, 6 hours $3.00, and 10 hours $1.80. For comparison, ChessBase's two-volume Rosell set was €69.90 on 8 November 2026 for two volumes of 4h 21m each, about €8.03 per listed hour, and its page lists every common White try.

We did not obtain TheChessWorld's refund terms. Our suggestion is to treat the purchase as non-refundable until you have read otherwise: reasonable at $17.99, and not at $59.95.

Check these before paying

1. A named chapter for each row of the table above. The listing excerpts we saw only named the Short Variation.
2. Which line Black plays against the Classical, since that decides the kind of positions you will get.
3. Whether PGN files are included, so that you can load the lines into a trainer.
4. The publication date and whether the listing shows any written reviews yet.
5. The running time, so that you can work out the real cost per hour.
6. The current refund wording, on the store itself.

Who it might suit, and who should skip it

It may suit a player who already wants to try the Caro-Kann, likes the low entry price, and is willing to check the lines against free material. Skip it if you need a published syllabus before buying, if you want a clear level statement, or if you already have a working repertoire and would be switching only because the course is cheap.

The free route

Start with a few weeks of the opening before paying anything. Lichess studies and practice let you gather Caro-Kann lines and test them against real games, without a coach's choices. Our free Chessable courses page found "The Caro-Kann Starter Kit" showing "Get for free" on 8 November 2026, and every Short & Sweet course it checked showing as PRO-only, so read the button before relying on any course being free. Chess.com's article on Sam Shankland's "The Complete Caro Kann", from 2019, shows a nine-lesson outline covering sidelines, the Fantasy, the Panov, the old main lines and the Advance; we could not confirm what access it requires today.

Better-documented alternatives

Caro-Kann According to Dreev - Part 1 lists 79.00 EUR, 6h 26m and its chapter titles on a page we could read, but Part 1 covers only the Advance Variation. The Eljanov course has a part-by-part breakdown on Modern Chess's own pages. For all the options side by side, see best Caro-Kann courses.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• The listing's "avoid heavy theory" line sits beside at least four numbered chapters on a single Advance system.
• With 0 store reviews, there is no buyer feedback at all to weigh against the seller's description.
• How long the sale price lasts, and whether the list price is ever charged.
• TheChessWorld's refund terms. Our TheChessWorld Academy review covers the store.

Here is the TheChessWorld product page to confirm the details.