After 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5,

What is the best continuation for black? I was looking into some articles claiming that 3...Bg4 is a good move, but nothing was explained about this continuation.

Does this line refute 3...Bg4? Or is there a good continuation for black?

Thanks

well refute is a pretty strong word. Sure white can play 4. f3, i suppose, if he wants...but is that good for him? now the knight cannot go to f3 and the diagonal leading to g1 may be a problem.

i dont understand why Bb5 would even be considered a 'refuation'. Certainly black is forced to paly c6, and i suppose that after dc Nxc6 white is a pawn up. But thats exactly what black was looking for when he played Nf6. Ideas with Qb6 taking advantage of this wide open diagonal seem quite obvious.

It just looks like a position to me. Its playable for both sides i suppose but i dont understand how the f3 move actually helped white's position.

That variation is complete garbage for black. There are a few good ways to play for black but you must either play: 1.e4-d5 2.exd-Nf6 3. d4- Nxd5 or Qxd5 are basically the only real ways to play for black here.

"Refute" is usually taken to mean "prove that it loses," and that isn't exactly the case here.  So it may not be "refuted" but still be "complete garbage for Black" since he has much more reasonable attempts at his disposal.

If White says "A" with 4 f3, he may as well say "B" with 5 g4 Bg6  6 c4.  5 Bb5+ does put the pawn in the bank, but it also forces Black to develop.  Better to give him room to go wrong in choosing how to develop with the annoying pawn on d5.

Alright, thanks for the help.

I think that I'll just forget about the scandinavian. It's too unorthodox for my liking, thanks for the help.

I have written a blog post on this opening:
http://blog.chess.com/view/why-i-stoppend-playing-scandinavian-2-nf6

Shut up. Nobody cares. Stop spamming your stupid blog posts.

c6 is a decent option to block the check and close the position on the queenside, but I would suggest going with Nc6 in the true spirit of rapid development that the Portuguese is all about. Eventual plans for black will be Qb6 to hit the bishop and shift the action to the opposite side of the board, followed by a possible 0-0-0 to put pressure down the d-file.