What about the Ivanchuk/Carlsen line 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 (or 6.Qe2 first)? No a2-a4 stuff.
White seems having a good game (and an aggressive one, at that).
Maybe Black's best is the interesting "new" try 5...Bb4+!? which isn't even mentioned in a recent thick book by Dembo and Palliser.
Nxc6 gives a lasting weakness for Black in his pawn structure, which presents targets later that Black has to be wary of.
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Nxc6 gives a lasting weakness for Black in his pawn structure, which presents targets later that Black has to be wary of.
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Actually Black can avoid that "lasting weakness" by taking on c6 with the queen, although this approach is not fashionable at all.
Dogmatism cannot be such agood thing. The old main line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qd2 isn't popular anymore due to the continuation 6...dc6 7.Nc3 Bd4 (yeah, moving the same piece again with the intention to trade it). The new main line after 5.Nxc6 Qf6 goes 6.Qf3, where white does offer Black the chance to create "lasting weaknesses" in white's camp. Black answers by voluntarily doubling his pawns by 6...bc6 (although Mamedjarov is quite consistent taking with the other pawn, and scoring quite well), and then white continues 7.Nd2, blocking his own bishop.
Yes, so one line which I was considering is:
As for the Bb4+, I've faced it a couple of times in blitz games here and was totally surprised, as I am not familiar with it, so yes, I've realized it's become fashionable. I've found these reasonable opening lines in some GM games:
4...Bb4+ is a very popular approach. I was referring to the new 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed5 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb4+!?
6...Qxc6 is a passive approach. IMO white should forget about those Bb5 and Bg5 ideas (especially Bb5 is pointless, the Black Queen is badly placed on c6), and play simply 7.Nc3 and now either 8.Bd2 and 0-0-0 or 8.Bd3 and 0-0 against both ...Ne7 and ...Nf6, when he should be slightly better with something like Nc3-d5 in mind.
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7...d5 is not popular at all, for a pretty obvious reason: the resulting endgame after 8.exd5 Qxf3 (8...ed5 9.Bb5+ forces 9...Kf8) 9.Nxf3 cd5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxd7+ Kxd7 12.Ne5+ Ke6 13.Nd3 Bd6 14.Nf4+ Bxf4 15.Bxf4 is simply unpleasant for Black.
That's a different beast, and quite off topic.
Anyway, the Scotch four knights is simply boring (4...ed4 5.Nxd4 Bb4). Black is absolutely fine in all variations.
Regarding the 5.Nb3 lines, they sure do look interesting... As for the early 6.Qe2 sortie, I've just read that the recommended answer is precisely 6...a5 to force 7.a4 and render 0-0-0 less attractive for White, so the 'critical line' is then something like:
And, of course, if Black doesn't go for a5 (as some strong players also don't), White gets a really nice position, as Carlsen demonstrated here (and he played this more than on one occasion, though he lost the latter game to Karjakin):
As for 5...Bb4+, Rybka also likes it :) .. though the positions reached there also seem quite nice as in this example:
Ok, so - I've tried the Nb3 approach OTB today.
The game was quite interesting:
http://blog.chess.com/the_cheradenine/sharp-battle-in-the-scotch
even though the opening play wasn't really the most accurate, but the position was very live and rich with tactical opportunities.
super duper old thread. I know I know. But I play a pet line that I came up with through my own experience (been playing scotch game since i started chess) but, unfortunately for pfren's liking it is based on A4 instantly. If black plays a5, great we've got the b5 outpost. the lsb might sit nice there for awhile. if they play a6 (this seems to be more common when black sees white isnt going for 0-0-0. im going to digress and say that I used to play the scotch the trendy way and almost always found a way to get in a 0-0-0 for opposite side attacks. BUT...the attacks are just not as strong as the sicilians in my part. er, what I mean by that is black has every bit as much attack counterplay and it often just seems like rolling the dice (for ME. im not a master) so what I do, and i know it sounds silly, I just forget about nc3 for the moment. Ideally, I like to play this way:
e4 e5 nf3 nc6 d4 exd nxd bc5 nb3 Bb6 a4 a6 a5 ba7 be2 d6 Ra4
after that I will play nc3. but playing nc3 isnt important because you are castling kingside and playing Rd1 if black plays A5, and again if a6 R goes ra4 and it is super annoying placed there! check it out for yourself. the longterm plan is to slide the R over to double or often triple into a RQR or even alekhines gun formation.
yeah, go look up the variation and it will probably have slight under 0 evaluation. But I will proudly play anybody 1900ish uscf or lower and would be confident to put make it 'interesting' ;)
also works ghreat in blitz, cuz black just hasn o clue and spends time trying to attack the oddly placed rook on A4 but theres really no easy way.
I recently started playing the Scotch game as White and I was wondering about your impression as to which line after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 offers most practical chances for White in tournament play.
I mean, people seem to have become well prepared for the complications after 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3, as I've even seen one game today in a database (played last year) where a player rated app. 1800 played first 16 book moves of the Qg6 line, outbooked the higher rated White player (2100) and eventually won.
I've also seen a lot of recent GM games featuring both 5.Nxc6 Qf6 6.Qf3 bxc6 (which seems to be more populat atm than 6...dxc6) and 5.Nb3 Bb6, etc. with good result for White. Of course, in the former, one has to be prepared to play the following transition to the endgame well, but if one :is: good in endgames, this does make sense... The other line seems to be quiet and also more oriented towards positional play, right?
So, in your experience, what is the most flexible way of handling the White side of the Scotch, in practice, without memorizing many tactical lines to great depth and constantly following novelties? I know it must be also a matter of taste, but that aside, what is your personal experience/advice? Thx.