Crush the Scotch Game with the Killer Black Queen of the Steinitz Variation!
#ScotchGame #SteinitzVariation
At the beginner-intermediate level, the Steinitz Variation is a brilliant response by Black against the otherwise very strong Scotch Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4). At the time of this video, I have NEVER lost a game against the Scotch with the Steinitz Variation with a record of 10 wins and 1 draw!
The killer black queen on h4 is difficult to counter by the unprepared Scotch player and the actual refutation is unlikely to be found by calculation in a rapid game alone. In practice, Black is close to being guaranteed to winning the e4 pawn, or, have a great position out of the opening especially if White wants to resolve the tension immediately.
That is what occurred in this game. White traded their knight (5. Nxc6) which is an immediate inaccuracy which gives the advantage to Black [-0.51]. At the end of the opening with opposite side castling, Black had a completely winning advantage of [-4.63] up two points of material!
After pieces trades in the middle game, we enter an endgame of Black having the rook pair against White's bishop and rook. The rook pair can often be overwhelming, especially with few pawns on the board. In fact, White's bishop last move was on move 23 and didn't have an opportunity to move again until the penultimate move on move 41. This move was forced to avoid checkmate for one turn! GG!
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/443072997
