You can also transpose into the Caro-kann Advance...
No More Scandinavian?
Sort:
Psychological value = 10/10 (but not at patzer level, as algorab points out in a later post). Better than exd5 ? Probably not. I'd give it a shot and see it in practice.
I platy the Scandinavian myself, and 2. e5 is a well known "deviation" from 2. exd5. There is a thread somewhere on these boards on the variation. The main weakness of the move is that it allows both 2. ...Bf5 and 2. ...c5.
2. ...Bf5 followed by ...e6 and ...c5 is an improved French for Black as his light squared bishop is outside the pawn chain.
2. ...c5 is good for Black as it makes it hard for White to get a strong e5, d4 centre.
As for taking Black out of his book I think players of the Scandinavian will know something of how to handle this as there are so few alternatives at move 2 for White.
Jul 3, 2011
0
#5
Scandinavians face it all the times let's say 1 in 3 here at chess.com: it's not a surprise at all , psycological value =0. It shows only white inexperience in dealing with that specific defense. b
It's weak against black, even though it is slightly annoying(imo).. Every time someone plays that against me, I get annoyed and not give my enemy any chance(of winning that is).
Jul 3, 2011
0
#7
You should play open positions, 2.e5 gets you into a closed pawn structure 
gargantuan wrote:
I platy the Scandinavian myself, and 2. e5 is a well known "deviation" from 2. exd5. There is a thread somewhere on these boards on the variation. The main weakness of the move is that it allows both 2. ...Bf5 and 2. ...c5.
2. ...Bf5 followed by ...e6 and ...c5 is an improved French for Black as his light squared bishop is outside the pawn chain.
2. ...c5 is good for Black as it makes it hard for White to get a strong e5, d4 centre.
As for taking Black out of his book I think players of the Scandinavian will know something of how to handle this as there are so few alternatives at move 2 for White.
Thank you. I wonder why the Scandinavian is even played. What compensation does Black get for the loss of one tempo after 3.Nc3, kicking Black's queen to a5, d6 or d8? It seems like White still has the initiative.
Jul 3, 2011
0
#9
The tempo is not really lost except for Qd8 since exd5 costs White a tempo too ...
I don't know exactly why, but I find it difficult to play against the Scandinavian as White. (But I don't like to play it as Black either. :)
hicetnunc wrote:
You should play open positions, 2.e5 gets you into a closed pawn structure
Nah, the brilliance behind 2.e5 is that it robs Black of the f6 square for his knight. Black is hopelessly cramped, and 3.Nf3 defends e5 while attacking Black's weak pawn advance, 2...d4. At least that is what I saw in my head in the middle of the night. 
DonnieDarko1980 wrote:
The tempo is not really lost except for Qd8 since exd5 costs White a tempo too ...
I don't know exactly why, but I find it difficult to play against the Scandinavian as White. (But I don't like to play it as Black either. :)
Thanks for that observation. This tempo stuff can get a bit tricky, and I'm over my head on this one.
Here's what GM Paul van der Sterren writes in FCO, "The great drawback is that Black will have to takeback on d5 and that - now that there is no pawn on e6 or c6 to do the dirty work - this will have to be done either by the queen or knight. Either way this will take up some time, which boils down to the fact that while Black is busy recapturing on d5, White will move his d-pawn to d4 and start developing his pieces. But undeniably the strategic goal of 1...d5, the elimination of White's e4-pawn, has been achieved. It is not easy to way these two factors against each other..."
So even a GM who has won the Dutch Championship twice, and reached the Candidates stage of the World Chess Chapionship in 1993 finds the Scandinavian difficult to definitively assess!
Jul 3, 2011
0
#12
I agree with the 2...c5 gang. Pushing is not a solution. You lose a tempo and put Black in the driver's seat.
Musikamole wrote:
I wonder why the Scandinavian is even played. What compensation does Black get for the loss of one tempo after 3.Nc3, kicking Black's queen to a5, d6 or d8? It seems like White still has the initiative.
Black gets an almost annoingly solid position. The aim is to sit out White's initial initiative and gradually equalize.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
Musikamole wrote:
hicetnunc wrote:
You should play open positions, 2.e5 gets you into a closed pawn structure
Nah, the brilliance behind 2.e5 is that it robs Black of the f6 square for his knight. Black is hopelessly cramped, and 3.Nf3 defends e5 while attacking Black's weak pawn advance, 2...d4.
At least that is what I saw in my head in the middle of the night.
Musikamole....... do you actually ever read the chess books you have?
The pawn chain with d4 and e5 is often called a kind of "French" defence. It is zero surprise whatsoever that it can transpose into the advance variation of the French defence. One of the main problems Black has in the French Defence is getting his light-squared bishop active behind the e6 pawn, here he can put it on f5, so have a *better* French than normal.
The d4-e5 pawn chain is KNOWN to usually not be very good for White. White will often have a very hard time trying to defend it and in the Advance French can spend half the game trying to defend it. He gives up the important squares e4, d5, f5.
The pawn formation d5-e4 is much better most of the time, but this French-style pawn formation is not so good ESPECIALLY since you're allowing the light-squared bishop out and active, which is Black's one weakness in the French Advance. Legitimate d4/e5 pawn chains occur in the c3 Sicilian (Alapin), Alekhine (Black practically begs for it), Caro-Kahn Advance and of course French... though the French Advance is thought to only lead to approximate equality with correct defence. I like the French Advance and will continue to play it, I think 2. e5 allows better than a transposition to the French, such as an improved French with Black's light-squared bishop developed on f5 or g4 where Black might actually be winning.
You missed my poor attempt at humor. See what I highlighted in red. Sorry about that.
I do read my chess books. 2.e5?! is more than dubious, it sucks, and I will never play it after investigating it further.
In one of my chess books, Paul van der Sterren (FCO) says the same thing as Ajedrecito, " 2.exd5 - The great thing about the Scandinavian is that White cannot very well avoid this pawn exchange, for 2.e5 Bf5 3.d4 e6 would produce an Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann with a beautiful extra move for Black, who has economized on ...c6."
its well know, sad that you lost sleep on that
This move is not so strong! In Scandinavian books there are ways to refute this. For instance Christian Bauer's book, which is perfect and complete on the scandinavian is covering the topic.
Jul 4, 2011
0
#17
DonnieDarko1980 wrote:
The tempo is not really lost except for Qd8 since exd5 costs White a tempo too ...
I don't know exactly why, but I find it difficult to play against the Scandinavian as White. (But I don't like to play it as Black either. :)
Black is going to lose that tempo later when White will attack his exposed Queen in a5 or in d6 (in d8 is super-passive) unless he manages to pull off some cheapos
I woke up in the middle of the night and got this idea: 1.e4 d5, not 2.exd5, but 2.e5! Went back to sleep after playing 1.e4 d5 2.e5 on my chessboard, so I wouldn't forget. Upon awakening, I checked my database and discovered that others have played 2.e5, even the really good players. Hmm...
I parked Houdini on 1.e4 d5 for a very long time, depth = 21. Houdini definitely prefers 2.exd5, giving it + 0.30 and 2.e5 - 0.04 - something like that. No matter the pawn evaluation, I would definitely take my chess friends out of their book by playing 2.e5. Surprisingly, the game can sometimes transpose into the French - Advanced Variation!
What do you think about 1.e4 d5 2.e5!?
Examples