?
Sure, but after Qxc3 Black is down in tempo just as surely as if he had allowed his Queen to get chased around. The move 2. ... Nf6 doesn't solve all of Black's opening problems.
fair enough. personally i feel like blacks following moves after are very natural and solid besides from the light square bishop but i see your point
It does not matter much whether the queen plays 3...Qa5, 3...Qd8, 3...Qd6, or 3...Qe5+: black will play ...c6 and the queen will go to c7 like in the Caro-Kann.
So it seems at first sight than black loses 2 tempi by moving his queen to c7 in 3 moves instead of one.
However, white lost a tempo with 2 exd5 and in the Caro-Kann black loses a tempo with 3...dxe4
So tempo wise Scandinavian and Caro-Kann are equal.
Pfren I have not analyzed the 3..... Qd6 line for a while but I did see that line played by 2 very strong engines. they were required to play the line against each other.
In both cases White won with a very nice game.
Scandinavian is kak.
End of story.
Black's argument is that after placing his knight on c3 he must also waste a move in order to play c4 in mobilising his queenside majority. If the knight goes to e4 black usually as a N x e4 trade alleviating his number of pieces in a slightly more confined position than his opponent, while going back to e2 may put white on the backfoot.
And why must white play c4 ? To mobilise his queenside majority...
As I mentioned, the Scandinavian is the cousin of the Caro Kann, and many of the same positional themes are evident... the White e-Pawn having exchanged for the Black d-Pawn, the White 4-vs-3 Q-side majority with Nc3 already played, etc.
Are you sure that’s the main line
Very sure. This may be the only thing I know about chess.
Are you sure that’s the main line
Very sure. This may be the only thing I know about chess.
Well then... I'm not sure how to break this to you.
I've seen some author say the purpose of the Scandinavian is to reach Caro Kann like positions while avoiding sharp lines in the Caro Kann
https://chessmood.com/blog/the-journey-into-the-scandinavian-defense-jungle a small nice article about Scandi.