I play the Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc variation as black (If White plays the Queen's pawn opening I go for d5 then if Queen's gambit is played I go for Queen's gambit declined: Austrian variation), since I don't really know openings and it can also lead to an early queen trade (and if white blunders by moving the king, loss of the opponent's castling rights) as well as possibly leading to the Reti opening; Tennison Gambit (When the Tennison Gambit is played, I always capture the pawn on e4)... I'm not a chess master, my rating is 700 at max and I just want to help out.
greatest player to ever regularly play the Scandinavian Defense as black?
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Someone who enjoys playing the Scandinavian but wants to mix it up to keep opponents from prepping so well against 'the Scandinavian guy' could play all four versions --- 3...Qa5, 3...Qd8, 3...Qd6, and 2...Nf6. Get the best book available on each one, and keep em guessing.
Grob
Pretty sure Jacques Mieses played it frequently.
To my knowledge he's the greatest player to use the opening as a main weapon, which was the original question. Although I now see this thread is 7 years old, and was resurrected by an Alekhine player who felt the need to dunk on the Scandi.
Anyways if the opening is good enough for a 2600+ Gm, it's good enough for me who will never be anywhere near that strength.
+1 Agreed... Sergei Tiviakov peak rating was 2699.. Currently there are only about 50 people in the world that have a rating that high or higher.
A great player in any era.
When he was playing at his best the Scandinavian was a secondary defense behind the Sicilian. He played a line that fianchetto kingside in the Melt's var 3...Qd6 and he played it at the highest levels. All good things come to an end. Around 2012 or 2015 (I can't remember) The line he played took a hit in a forceing line late in the middle game. Tiviakov announced the line was busted. Yet, soon after followers of the line soon found improvements.. (FYI: the line in question is a sub variation of the Melt's 3...Qd6 and not even considered the main line) Around 2018, it appears he switched to the French as his secondary defense... behind his beloved Sicilian and now only occasionally to plays the Scandinavian but only against much weaker opponents.. that said... Looking at what he plays it's not the theoretical current lines of any Melt's Var I know. (IMO he's just using it not to give away what he's playing in his 1st and 2nd tier defenses)
I'm convinced him not using the Scandinavian probably has more to do with the fact that during the 2000s he was one of the top 50 players of the world and was noted as the "Scandinavian guy... " every professional of that era probably had something cooked up for the line(s) he played...
Either he probably got bored with it, or ran out of ideas ... maybe both... and now he's past his prime (rated 2544) on the downside, is not as active as he once was... (probably has a carrier outside of chess.)
Currently... I play both the Scandinavian (the Center Counter Defense) and the Caro-Kann. Ideas interchange, tactics are similar and they compliment each other. I play the Anderssen var 3...Qa5. which I'm enjoying ... Mainly due to a lot of people currently are playing either 8.Ne4 or 8.Nd5 both transpose into the Bronstien-Larsen Attack in the Caro-Kann (a line that get's very sharp and gives Black a nice attack on the kingside.
The Center Counter defense (aka the Scandinavian ) is a solid defense.