does the Scandinavian actually work??

Well its not seen at top level because it is slightly less good at drawing than, say, the berlin. But its prrfectly viable up til like super gm level, and then its ok but not as good at drawing

My last OTB tournament, a 2400 played it against me. It was a longish game and I had some compensation for a pawn but not enough so eventually he got pieces unscrambled and won. I think it's a legitimate defense to e4. - Bill

:love

the scandi is not a very good opening as white brings his pieces out quicker and you can easily suffer from a major lack in development

It's probably the worst option of the three (I exclude Qe5+ and Qe6+) - 3...Qa5 and 3...Qd8 IMO work better for Black.

Theoretically, white is better in the Scandi due to his considerable space advantage, but in practical play Black has a lot of counterattacking possibilities.

in the scandi often times white piles everything on the e6 square to sacrifice on and gain a winning atttack

The modern scandi is good for black though

This is equal but black has great chances and a 61% winrate

And this is very solid too

I hope this works!

maybe not tho

black has some counterattacking chances but hes only surviving because of his solid caro structure. Also blacks kingside is very weak and is prone to attack and white is likely much better there

@Potatoesandchess

The most common move is Nc3 which ends up in this

no that is not

that transposes into the alekhine defense and goes like this

Against the 2. ... Nf6 line whte has 2 good options:

1. best and easiest is 3. d4 and if Nxd5 4. c4 and white center is formidable.

2. Also, for those who play the panov 3. c4 c6 4. d4 cxd5 and it's the panov. Only problem is 3. c4 e6 which is very trappy for black . White emerges from opening better only if he knows it and loses quickly if he doesn't.

-My opinion, Bill

Scandinavian isn’t very good. Doesn’t make much sense to voluntarily bring out your queen just so you can get attacked. Playable, and it’s not unsound, but… meh I personally don’t like it

If white plays the main line in the Qa5 line, then black gets a good game. When the pieces come off the board, the endgame can be somewhat hard for black. But white has other options that may be more practical for him. One is an early Ne5 posing black problems in the center. Second is a rook sacrifice exchange for Black's bishop on f5. If black recaptures with e6xf5, then all of those attacks that angrypuffer mentioned on f7 become very hard to defend if not losing in general.