Scandinavian as black for the developing amateur: 3...Qa5 or 3...Qd6?

For the developing low-level club player with limited study time, and who is starting to more consistently play more games at the club and in rated tournaments, which Scandinavian "main lines" as Black do you recommend and why: 3...Qa5 or 3...Qd6?

I like the Qd6 lines but it probably doesn't matter at that level. White has a lot of good options against either but I find it playable, for the most part. I haven't done any extensive study but both moves may end up transposing into the same positions much of the time.

Perhaps it is helpful to look at some samples from books on the possibilities. Here is a sample from The Modern Scandinavian:
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/948.pdf
Another (slightly older) 3...Qa5 book is Play the Scandinavian.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627073000/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen142.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/PlaytheScandinavian-excerpt.pdf
On 3...Qd6, there is The Scandinavian: Move by Move.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232217/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen171.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7270.pdf
Also: The Safest Scandinavian
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7577.pdf

 I don't think that was a great representation of the Qd8 scandi considering carlsen was worse most of that game

I'd go with 3...Qa5. To me, it's easier to learn and understand the basic development plans. The a5 square is a natural relocation square for the queen—provides a potential tactical pin and keeps the queen from blocking the development of your own pieces.

I find Qd6 a bit trickier for black to play if you aren't adequately prepped, as it limits the development of black's king bishop, and sometimes gets harassed by white from moves such as Nc4 or Bf4. 

Check out the games of Hikaru Nakamura if you decide to play the ...Qa5 variation. He's played it quite a lot against the other elites.

3...Qd8 is fully playable, as is 3...Qa5 and 3...Qd6. The first has the less theory to study, the second is the riskiest/most ambitious, and the latter the most solid. I would say that 3...Qd8 should be fine if learned properly.

All three variations lead to a cramped game.  Qd8 seems bad due to it's undevelopment.  Qa5 is risky if white plays b4 at the right time., but can easily transfer to the kingside.  Qd6 limits Bf4, but the queen seems like a target on d6.  IMHO, Qa5 is best as I'm an aggressive player, and the fishhook trap is common in this variation, a good trap to learn at your level.

I agree with @DeirdreSkye. 3... Qd8 is really the only line White doesn't have something strong against.

This is another variation that may be better for black.  I see it more often with better players than me......if white tries to protect the center pawn can lead to bad complications.....white's best third move is actually d4....

Scandinavian Defense (3...Qd6 / 5...g6 variation)...

The following book has probably the best treatment of this particular line....

The Scandinavian: Move By Move by Cyrus Lakdawala...

https://www.amazon.com/Scandinavian-Move-Cyrus-Lakdawala-ebook/dp/B00CSTCESW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500938688&sr=8-1&keywords=the+scandinavian+lakdawala

Note: this book deals only with the 3...Qd6 Scandinavian.

The 3...Qd8 Scandinavian by Daniel Lowinger.

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/3Qd8-Scandinavian-The-76p3822.htm

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/2776.pdf                          

https://www.chess.com/club/scandinavian-defense-3-qd6-variation

I recommend the Qd6 Scandi

Probably true. Though Carlsen doesn't seem to have a preference between the three main Scandinavian variations—he's played them each once and has yet to lose with any of them.

To him, black's third move there likely doesn't make much of a difference. He'll play any one of them on any given day.

Thanks for the responses everyone... I will have to take a closer look at 3...Qd8. I had been leaning toward 3...Qa5 because it seemed like it would have more tactical lines for learning and because the Wahls book covers the middlegame themes, structures, and plans for 3...Qa5, but there seem to be more recent books and videos covering 3...Qd6.

Recently, I played in one USCF-rated Quick and one USCF-rated Standard tournament... In those tournaments, I answered 1.e4 with d5 in 3 games total, yet White deviated on move 2 or 3 in all 3 games, twice playing 2.e5 and once playing 3.Nf3, so I have not yet been able to get into a move-3 mainline Scandinavian in a rated tournament in 3 tries.

 

Beautiful queen sac to get the central/kingside pawn-storm juggernaut rolling.. Nearly all of white's pieces are on their starting rank and the other one is dead. I am too materialistic to prospectively see that kind of deep strategic planning.

Played in another tournament recently, with 2 more attempts to get into the Scandinavian ...

One kid took me right to the mainline and I chose 3...Qa5.  Haven't analyzed the game, but I am sure I was losing while he was aggressively pawn-storming down my kingside, but somehow I maneuvered a couple minor pieces where they could defend better, snatched a pawn with an opportune knight capture-check on a pawn, which forced its defending pawn to recapture and remove the defender of his knight (tactics!) while capturing it immediately, then somehow turned it a win after 70-some moves and lots of trading down (kids don't like endgames?!). 

My adult opponent answered 1...d5 with 2.c3!? which I don't even know if that line is covered in any books, but using general opening principles, the answer was quite obviously 2...c5!! which led to an easy forced win roughly 45 moves and 3 hours later.  In this game, he had a queen, knight, bishop in my territory on the kingside against my castled king while I had open files on the queenside with my rooks and knight having taken over while he was trying to mate me.  The engine says I could have won a tad faster with 2...Nf6 or 2...e6, but we all know engines don't know strategy or opening principles like a well-read class E player knocking on class D's door. 

All this to say... in my 2...c5!! "Scandi[navian]", my queen stayed on d8, and later in the middlegame I was tempted to bring her to a5.  Now I am starting to wonder if it is wise to view Scandi games for all of the major move 3 line for Black (3...Qa5, 3...Qd6, and 3...Qd8), even if I choose one for playing, since there may be some transpositions with certain types of positions favoring the queen on any one of those particular squares?  But even just inputting moves into ChessBase or COW without trying to study/analyze them takes too long.  Tactics alone seems more practical for study, but I do not like playing "[I] HOPE [s/he makes an obvious blunder that I recognize in the first 25 moves]" chess. 

@DeidreSkye

I made a mistake, not at that point in the game, or else it wouldn't say "!!" on move 2, but in my last post... it was my third move that the engine says I should have moved ...e6 or ...Nf6 after 1.e4 d5 2.c3!? c5!! 3.d3!? (my opponent loves those spring-loaded latently aggressive attacking pawn moves, grabbing more of his own space), but instead I played 3...Nc6!! 

Usually I like to sacrifice my opponent's pawns, but in this case, I saw beyond the crap-tactic play of a typical 1100 player and tried to understand his/her psychology... he wanted out of the Scandi and wanted the early tempi and open lines more than I wanted the temporary pawn, so I settled for a Queen's Gambit-y looking thing (I have never played the QG, D or A, but I know you don't block the c-pawn with the horsehead-bust) that would throw him off his rocker since he was this "attacking chess" type (who loved moving pawns to the 3rd rank and minor pieces to the 2nd rank), but then he went crazy in the middlegame and brought all his pieces to my kingside after I grabbed one of his pawns on the queenside with a RRN v RB on b2.  Well, eventually, he had his knight, queen, and bishop on my third and fourth ranks in front of my castled king, itching for me to advance my g-pawn to "fork" his queen and knight, so he could respond with a knight check and bring his dark-squared bishop into the fray (at h6) to try to BBQ --get it? endgame humor-- my king.  So instead I traded my defending knight for his offending knight, he tried to open up my pawn cover with a piece sacrifice, but then I trapped his queen with a well-timed g-pawn advance ... He kept the game going until I traded down to a KQBPPPP v KPPP endgame (no books cover that particular position to my knowledge, hence you can't just rely on opening theory and need to study tactics and endgames). 

After the game, he was gracious enough to say to me "If you hadn't trapped my queen, I would have mated you easily." 

 

Wait a minute... If I took that pawn on move 2, then he would be the one doing the Scandi-ing!!