Scotch Game | Steinitz Variation WIN!
#scotch #steinitzvariation
I recently demonstrated on my video on OpeningTree.com that I have literally never lost a game of the Scotch Game where I used the Steinitz Variation - out of 19 games so far, 18 wins, 1 draw! This is the most recent game in a Team Australia tournament!
We enter the Modern Defense line of the Steinitz Variation (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4). In this position, White has only a single good move that maintains their advantage, the somewhat obscure Be2. White doesn't find this move and plays the second-best move (6. Qd3), which brings the game back to equality [0.00]. The tension here is on the e4 square, so I play the logical move (6... Nf6), developing my knight and adding another attacker.
In this position, White's best approach is to relieve the tension by trading, with perhaps the goal being they get to develop with the last capture. Black has a few more tricks, but I opted to "cash out" as well, when I thought that I had a potential advantage. We have a series of trades and on move 11 we have material equality, but I've castled, the bishop pair, and have forced White to move their king which is exposed. White does have some compensation - they have an advanced e-pawn, and my c-pawns are doubled. Stockfish evaluates the position as [0.00] as we enter the middlegame. I would argue that I might have the slightly easier to play position.
My opponent plays the middlegame well. One of my troubles with the daily game format is that I'm often out and about when I receive a move notification. I know that I sometimes make poorly thought out moves on my mobile phone, but I do it anyway! White advances with their pawns and cramps the mobility of my bishops. On move 18, I play c5, and blunder my b-pawn which was now undefended. White gains a healthy evaluation advantage of around [+3].
White captures a couple of my pawns, but now, my bishop pair start to exert their influence with lines opening. White's developed king in the centre of the board becomes a target with White's pieces getting pinned. On move 27, White makes their first serious mistake trying to defend their knight on e4 that was pinned to their king. Their aversion to material loss led them to play (27. Bd3) rather than challenge my light square bishop with (27. Bd5), but in doing so, hung their pawn on f6, and allowed me forward mobility for my dark square bishop. The second serious mistake occurred with what seemed like an innocent move (34. Bd5). This move ceded the e-file to my rook, potentially trapping their king on the kingside of the board, where all their pieces were on the queenside. This resulted in a catastrophic weakening in the defence of their king, which I managed to exploit. Only four moves later, the impending checkmate became obvious and White resigned. GG!
The big takeaway from this game is to consider the Steinitz Variation as a way of responding to the Scotch Game. It is very winning at the beginner-intermediate level.
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/545032607
