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My vow against the Scandi

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p1day1

i cannot stand this defense and I vow that I will never play the Scandi. 

p1day1

Thanks

MEXIMARTINI

Can you explain the defense?  I may be playing it and not even know it.

And why won't you play this defense anymore?

p1day1

I guess the guy that commented got muted.

Mexi do you reply to e4 with d5? This is the Scandinavian...

 

 

1. e4 d5

I always reply with 2. exd5 they (usually) reply with qxd5

I always attack Q with Nc3.

 

I believe white has tempo from here regardless of blacks response. 

MEXIMARTINI

pretty sure I respond with e5

p1day1

I would go 3 c3 and castle kingside, but other than that I like that line 

xMagnusCarlsen

I have an unbelievable success rate against the Scandinavian Defense, it's not even funny anymore. This is my set up as white.

 

 

 

As you can see, white has the superior pawn structure on the king side. If black castles queen side, you should aim to develop the remaining queenside pieces in a manner that allows the two rooks to be connected. Then you play for b4, a4, a5, b5, etc. And if black castles kingside, you play Be2, then Nh3, Nf2, g4, h4, h5, g5, etc.

 

There is one glaring weakness though, and that is the white's kingside knight. Don't ever play Nh3 if black can immediately exchange his lightsquared bishop for it. After Nh3 Bxh3, gxh3, you will no longer have the superior pawn structure. Instead, you will have serious weakness on f4, which black can exploit by posting his knight. Therefore, if black is capable of exchanging, then play Ne2 and figure something out from there. But if he can't then Nh3 to Nf2.

 

Edit: Don't exchange your bishops willingly in this line, unless there is a tactical benefit. Come  the endgame, they're a gem.

xMagnusCarlsen
LawAndOrderKing wrote:
xMagnusCarlsen wrote:

I have an unbelievable success rate against the Scandinavian Defense, it's not even funny anymore. This is my set up as white.

 

 

 

As you can see, white has the superior pawn structure on the king side. If black castles queen side, you should aim to develop the remaining queenside pieces in a manner that allows the two rooks to be connected. Then you play for b4, a4, a5, b5, etc. And if black castles kingside, you play Be2, then Nh3, Nf2, g4, h4, h5, g5, etc.

 

There is one glaring weakness though, and that is the white's kingside knight. Don't ever play Nh3 if black can immediately exchange his lightsquared bishop for it. After Nh3 Bxh3, gxh3, you will no longer have the superior pawn structure. Instead, you will have serious weakness on f4, which black can exploit by posting his knight. Therefore, if black is capable of exchanging, then play Ne2 and figure something out from there. But if he can't then Nh3 to Nf2.

 

Edit: Don't exchange your bishops willingly in this line, unless there is a tactical benefit. Come  the endgame, they're a gem.

I think white has a slight advantage because white has better squares for his pieces. I'm not sure what the best plan is in symmetrical positions like that. I would probably try to exchange the lighsquared bishop becaue it is my weakest bishop and blacks strongest bishop because of the pawn structure.

So maybe g3 followed by Bh3 and if Bxh3 then Nxh3. The knight then goes to f2 to cover the weak square d3 which is important because black might try Nd7->Bc5 or Nc5.

 

Another suggestion would be to play Bb5 threatening Bc6: and doubling the pawns. The knight can't move because the a7-pawn is hanging. That's why Kb8 is probably best to move the knight away when Bb5 comes. Then I would play Ne2 and Ba4-b3 and exchange the bishop. 

 

I respectfully disagree with exchanging the lightsquared bishop. White's LS bishop is crucial for keeping the pawns on the kingside intact should you ever want to expand them. It also helps when it comes to queenside pawn expansion, as well as support Nc4 etc. After you place the LS bishop on e2, it can do a lot of things. It also protects the d3 square for white, because very often black will aim to control the D-file by doubling rooks - which is completely fine because as white, your main focus will be attacking on the flanks anyway. Besides, why would you want to exchange the LS bishops? As you can see, black's pices are crowded. If you play Bc4 to exchange bishops, black will simply trade, then play for Nd7, Bc5 (trying to exchange off your other strong bishop) and then f6, and now he too has a good queenside pawn structure and has solved his problem of being crowded.

p1day1

Thanks for all this analysis folks. 

 

I just played a game vs 1...d5. It was 70 moves, so slow and boring but I think I missed some opportunities. may anyone offer some analysis here? 

 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/2488072504

p1day1

Thanks for that in depth analysis...Stamina? 

p1day1

A joke