scotch variation

so ive been playing the scotch a lot lately... and i'm seeing a line a lot that i dont think is supposed to be very good... but im not sure waht to do against it as i somehow end up losing a lot of those games.

I also play the Scotch, I get this pretty often. White should just try to take advantage of his spacial plus and not allow the freeing ... d5. There's all sorts of things you can do to prevent it; Nc3, Bc4, Bg5 to exchange the Nf6, all loosening blacks grip on d5. The problem I get a lot is that I don't know where to put my queen in some variations.

Also I've noticed that many people play ... c5, with the idea of gaining a 'tempo' by kicking the queen off d4. However, this weakens the d7/d6-pawn and more importantly, the d5-square will be all yours. Again you should try to get the d5-square entirely under control with Nc3, Bc4 and Bg5 (Qd2 and O-O-O really seal the deal).

P.S. Me being the reckless attacker I am, I almost always go O-O-O f4 g4 h4 etc. till mate. Don't use this piece of information. ;)

You are slightly better there, because you have your queen developed in the center and it can't be chased away very easily.

But of course there are still a couple million ways to lose the game after that. Thinking that a slight advantage means you'll win is one of the most common.

ok thx.... keep d5... sounds easy enough :)

^^ thats not the scotch, thats a different game where they get a queen in the center for their advantage

and ik a queen in the center with nobody being able to kick it is a advantage, im wondering how to USE it and capitalize on their mistake.

ahhh i see now... thx alot