Should I use the Scandinavian Defense

! agree. The Scandinavian Defence is one of the simplest replies to 1.e4 and requires no heavy memorisation; the pawn centre is decided as early as move 2, with one semi-open file for each player. White does get a space advantage in the centre (but this is true of any opening); on the other hand Black gets easy development for his pieces and with accurate play will not have to face a King side attack - in any variation. In most openings, Black has at least one problem piece (usually the light-square bishop), but in the Scandinavian Black has no bad pieces and no weaknesses to attack, keeping his very solid structure.

So far it all sounds great but there is one caveat: it's a bit passive. Black must be patient and be prepared to sit behind the stone-like structure (with pawns on b7-c6 and f7-e6) for a long time, but there will often arise an opportunity to counter-attack in the middle game, in the wake of unproductive operations from White.

The ...Qxd5 variation is fine, but actually I was more thinking the 2...Nf6 variation for black, since it allows him/her to either gambit a pawn for piece activity, or simply recapture in the center with a knight, and hold a solid position which emphasizes more piece play rather than pawn play. 

For beginners though, I don't recommend ...Qxd5 since all the beginners I've played in tournament games have gotten completely destroyed as black playing that - they just didn't know how to deal with their queen. I played a 1450 and beat him in 13 moves in a ...Qd6 variation when he got just a little careless with the queen  and I don't even consider 1450s as beginners. 

But the first time I played against 2...Nf6 was against a FIDE expert, and although I won material, he got extremely active and got a powerful attack, and went on a king chase and destroyed me.

The Icelandic Gambit is quite solid and is full of tactics and gives black often an advantage in development. 1e4 d5, 2 exd5  Nf6,3 c4 e6,4 dxe6 Bxe6

In my experience beginners also don't know how to deal with their King, Bishops, Knights Rooks or pawns but yeah, I do take your point there all the same

OfficialHero wrote:

When playing black, I either use the Scandinavian Defense; Boehnke Gambit or the Sicilian Defense; Hyper Accelerated Dragon.  I like the Boehnke Gambit, but then I saw that chess.com had given white a 100% chance of winning when black played it.  Why is this?  Should I start using the Sicilian Defense more? 

No! You should not bother your self with alternative first moves against 1.e4 except the natural and symmetrical 1...e5. After your rating reach above 1600 at least in rapid time control and at the same time increase your tactical awareness then you might consider play something else.

If you attempt to play the Siciian or the Scandinavian, the problem is that at your level you will face opponents who doesn't know how to play against it and that will result to you learning an opening under fault conditions. Your most serious positional mistakes will go unpunished.

Stay with 1...e5, you will not regret it!

Thanks a lot guys!

I prefer the Scandinavian defense as black but without doing 2.... Qxd4, I go ahead and do the Boenke Gambit. 2.... e6 3. dxe6 Bxe6.

i prefer not to use it cause of the tennison gambit

If they don't know how to deal with their Queen, they should try 3...Qd8.