scholars mate

I'm a new Chess player, I recently just lost to scholars mate opening. However, after 1. e4 e5 2.Qh5 wouldn't Nf6 be a good way to counter any further developing of this opening?

No, Nc6 is your ideal response. Otherwise losing the pawn and getting checked. In the future, mouse over the Learn tab towards the top and find the Game Explorer. For us cheap members, we can use it to look at the starting moves of games and get good responses.

I would play 2...Nc6 to protect the e5 pawn before playing Nf6

For us cheap members, the Game Explorer here shows very few moves... The same feature on chesstempo.com shows far more, even if you aren't registered there. I found out about this recently.

Thank you for the advice, however, and I completely overlooked the attack on e5.

Ahh, thanks so much! This makes perfect sense.

And Eseles, I'll check out the website you mentioned.

I would play 2...Nf6 allowing 3.Qxe5 because the Queen is exposed and Black can block the check with the Bishop followed by castling quickly and developing the other pieces. A pawn is not a big investment for getting the pieces out safely and quickly.

here is a basic setup to thwart the scholar's mate. Though I do not like Black's replies, it leads to at least equality.

Basically, if your opponent violates an opening principle, defend what is attacked, threaten the attacking piece, then establish a counterattacking strategy. Doing these things will at least allow you a fighting chance in the opening and middle games. Above all, do not panic and play rushed moves.

Also note there are several other replies for both sides, for example, following Qf3 Qf6, White can choose to exchange when Nxf6 gives Black a great game to play from while Qd1 can be played and then Black again has Bc5 to play and White must backpedal once again.

Always try to find the best move in any position then look again. You might be surprised what you come up with in your play.

Thank you, I always tend to get stumped by players who violate opening principle, I'll be sure to use your advice.

What a helpful bunch of people here.

I just had an idiot try it on me.

No problem. A coach of mine also gave me 3 points of advice to consider in playing chess that are great to remember.

1. In chess, White plays to win by virtue of the first move. Black having odds of the draw simply has to play to not lose.

2. Always seek to play the best move in a position and assume your opponent will as well. Try not to go for cheap swindles as this only makes your play suffer in the long run.

3. When playing for advantage, focus on your attacking strategy unless your opponents threat is greater than yours. If it is, attend to the threat then resume your plans, always knowing that the person with the initiative has the best chances of securing the win barring a blunder.

Best of luck in future games.

Refutation of scholar's mate:

Good line showing the process of hunting the Queen though in this line, White has after Nd4 Qd3 then on d5 there can follow either the simple Bb3 Nxb3 Qxb3 or White can also try exd5 Nxd5 Bxd5 Qxd5 and be slightly worse off though your line shows a lot of tactical play to learn from as well. Nice posting. 

The line I just gave BTW looks like this 5... Nd4 6. Qd3 d5 7. Bb3 (7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Bxd5 Qxd5) 7... Nxb3 8. Qxb3. Both lines though are not bad for Black as his lead in development should hold the game, especially if he can maintain pressure against the White King.

Looks like you are talking about the Parham opening.  But white usually plays 5. d3.

Schiller has a game in one of his books where Kasparov had the Black pieces against this opening in a tournament and either he played 9... Nd4 or he missed it. He calls it the Wayward Queen Attack. Very interesting that this was seen there....hmmm.

Schiller's books are terrible, generally speaking.

I've actually played Bernard Parham in a few games, with a 100% score. This opening is just bad even when played by a strong player. The key move 2...Nf6 led to a very good game where I checkmated Parham in the late middlegame/endgame transition.

I know Schiller is horrible as a writer. My actual point was that this opening has been played by K with the Black pieces in a tournament game. You would think that an opening this bad would not see the light of day in GM play yet there it was. 2... Nf6 is both solid and playable and attacks e4 directly. I play both this and 2...Nc6 against the Parham and score with it consistently. Typically, I will play Nc6 as a safe move against someone I have never played to see how they deal with the attack and then Nf6 once I get a feel for their gameplay and just go for the throat. My best friend used to spring this on me when I first started playing (DAMN YOU FRANK!!!!!) and I had no access to books nor knew that I would eventually start reading and studying so many of my games were losses at first. Now, I almost welcome the Parham from White as I do the Damiano from Black.

I definitely agree with you on your assessment of Schiller though, even if I reference his titles.

Every time someone tries to scholar's mate me, I move my G pawn and later my king side knight. Later, I fianchetto. However, later my opponent pulls my king out, into the center and I get checkmated.