The Scandanavian Defence

What are your views on the Scandanavian Defence? (1. e4 d5)

The most common line I have seen for white in this position is 2. exd5, then Qxd5, with black bringing out their queen early on.
3. Nc6 is again very common for white. It develops one of his minor pieces with tempo and forces black to move his queen somewhere else. Another move that I have seen white do after Qxd5 is 3. d5, where white has clear plans for his bishops to develop. However Nc6 is the most common because of his minor piece development, a fundamental tactic.

The most common response to 3. Nc6 is Qa5, then white may do a move like 4. d5. To show this:

The Scandanavian Defence is a perfectly natural counterattack to e4. However I prefer white's position here because he has developed his minor pieces first. However I respect that the opening is an aggressive one for black.

What are your views on the Scandanavian Defence? Share your views on this forum if you want to!

britishquaker

I played the defence  a few years ago and often drew against  nominally weaker players. I'm noticing the same thing with a couple of clubmates who are drawing against players they might otherwise hope to beat.

I think it may be good as a weapon against an equal or stronger player who likes to overpress. Another weapon should be sought, I believe against weaker opponents who are just content to hold their ground...I notice that black often gives up his light squared bishop for a knight and puts pawns on lights squares -  c6 and e6 - hard to break down but hard to expand from to try and win IMHO...

Well it isn't the worst possible move that black could do.

Here is "my" discovery. Im pretty sure it isn't mine but i find this line fine for white. Especially good for Blitz.

I've been delving into it recently and I'm having fun with it. It's more forcing which I like but white is comfortable usually and with best play better. But amateurs like us rarely need to be concerned with that...

GM Bryan Smith published an excellent video on handling the Scandanavian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMd4op5DG_g

Larry Kaufman in his excellent series "The Chess Advantage in Black and White" (first edition) also recommended this NF3 system.

Thanks very much for that link, it helped me a lot. Gave me a lot of insight as to the Scandanavian Defence and the possible attacks white could make from it. I've only really considered 3. Nc3 because nearly every player plays that move. 3. Nf3 means that white develops normally and he strikes the queen a little later on, as shown in that video perhaps with a move like c4 or he could do Nc3 instead. Nice!

I was talking to my friend and he seems to like the Scandanavian when he plays as black. He's a rather aggressive player so he likes to play the moves like in one of the examples he provided me:

I quite like the look of the way how those moves are played because it is a full of feasible captures for black and a decent development opportunity. An alternative to how it is played, is a different response to 3. Nc3 Qe6+.

So I thank my friend for providing those examples. 

Here are some other good YouTube videos on the Scandinavian:

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Handling Various Scandinavian Defenses (Part-1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp3QZIkKP_c
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Handling Various Scandinavian Defenses (Part-2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhZdilW_cOU

I have contempt for the Scandinavian Defense. I read somewhere recently that Black must either lose a tempo in the opening or have a weak, defensive pawn structure: no other choice with best play from White. It's one of the few defenses where I play to win instead of draw as White and where I avoid queen exchanges to hasten the win. I'm sure it's a sound defense, but I believe it's suboptimal, and my record against it is surprisingly good, except when I'm playing Computer Level 10.

I agree because most variations can be weak for black as white can develop their pieces with tempo and push black's queen round a little. Referring back to the example I gave in the description white has clear lines for bishop development and knight development. But I respect that it is a pretty solid defence for black. 

It's the type of defense that a class player should avoid.  It's difficult to beat lower rated players with once they are of class C/D strength.  It requires very precise positional manuevers to keep black on the board.  It is quite theory intensive and some lines are just outright speculative.

Once you reach a certain level, it's a great solid defense.  But if you want to get better, why not try some more enterprising defenses that help develop you as a player?  The only thing you will learn in the Scandinavian is how to manage tempo to maintain a solid position.  Once I reached a certain point, I found that the Scandinavian offered very little in the way of outplaying white in the middlegame.  It forced me to develop my endgame skills to attempt to win at all.  The games would go 60+ moves everytime and it is not a forgiving defense.  White can win easily, but the same cannot be said for black.  I adopted the open games and became a much better player.

In these lines white does not have to  play passive. He can play sharply as an example:

What is the rating of your friend?

Well I would say he's round the early 1300s. He doesn't play on this site so it's just what I think he'd be around.

The sequence  3. Nc3  Qe6ch? 4. Be2  Qg6  5. Nf3  Qxg2 6. Rg1  Qh3

  Gives White a very strong game [as noted above].

Not a good idea to play 3. .... Qe6ch

3...Qe6+ is bad in that the idea of the scandinavian involves a retreat to c7 while trying to save tempo.  3...Qe6+ manages to not be able to do that in one move and it blocks the e-pawn which means additional tempos will be wasted to develop the dark square bishop not to mention d5 from white becomes a very big threat.

3...Qe5+ is the way to play this though it seems as if timing-wise it's missing a key tempo to properly play it in practice.

I find the Scandinavian an underrated opening. White can easily get in trouble in some lines.

Plaese show me the lines.