the scandinavian defence
This will be my first in a series of blogs that will discuss my preferred response to the 1.e4 move. The Scandinavian. When I first started playing chess in a more competitive way my only exposure to this opening was that presented to me by a few close friends who, where to say the least, skeptics of the opening and did not give it half a chance. But now three years later, I have a much different view. I spent much of my chess history (a short one compared to most) playing the Caro Kann. As anyone who has a subtle understanding of both Scandinavian and caro kann openings will note there similarities on a few lines. So the transition was not to abrupt.
see any similarities?
Now these blogs will concentrate not on the Scandinavian as a whole, but only on one line. The line you saw above. The Gubinsky-Melts defense. Unlike the main line where you would position the queen on a5. in this line the queen goes back to d6. this move is rapidly becoming much more popular with the help of grand masters such as sergie tivakov, who will play the opening agenst any one at any level and has a very high rate of success. To start off this blog I would like to open with a very instructive game of his.
