Scandinavian Defense

Scandinavian Defense

The Scandinavian Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings in chess. From the very first move, black looks to undermine the center control of white after the common e4 move by white.
Nine times out of ten white will catpure the pawn on d5 and I recommend that you spend the majority of your time learning the scandinavian defense, assuming that white captures the pawn on d5.
Black then has two options. The first option is the main line which is to recapture the pawn on d5 with his queen. Then after white play Nf3, black can decide to bring his queen to a5 or back to d6. It is considered bad play to retreat back to d8 since the queen just came from that square. You shouldn't play the scandinavian if you are looking to merely retreat your pieces when they could stay active.
The other response black has is to play Nf6 and not recapture right away on d5. This is done for two reasons. One black is giving up material to build up a stronger center and get better development from their minor pieces. The second reason is that the main line is for white to give back the material and black will have a better developed plan than they would with their queen exposed.

Viswanathan Anand vs Joel Lautier
Credit Suisse, Biel SUI 1997
Scandinavian Defense: Main Lines. Mieses Variation
[Result 1-0]
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5
7.Ne5 e6 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 Nbd7 10.Nxd7 Nxd7 11.h5 Be4 12.Rh3 Bg2
13.Re3 Nb6 14.Bd3 Nd5 15.f3 Bb4 16.Kf2 Bxc3 17.bxc3 Qxc3
18.Rb1 Qxd4 19.Rxb7 Rd8 20.h6 gxh6 21.Bg6 Ne7 22.Qxd4 Rxd4
23.Rd3 Rd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Bd3 1-0

One of the oldest chess openings, the scandinavian defense, black immediately challenges the center from white's e4 with d5. After white recaptures black has two options to respond. Black can immediately recapture with his queen and reach equality in material or play Nf6 and try to gain a spacial and developmental advantage. If black chooses for Nf6 both sides need to keep their eyes open as there are many small traps that both sides can fall for that will destroy their position.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rrt0Lm1 ... r_embedded

NN vs Paul Krueger
Stettin 1920
Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer (B01)
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.dxc6 Nxc6 5.d3 e5 6.Nc3 Bc5 7.Bg5
O-O 8.Ne4 Nxe4 9.Bxd8 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2 Nd4# 0-1

Esteban Canal vs NN
Simultaneous 1934
Scandinavian Defense: Main Lines (B01)
[Result 1-0]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Bf4 e6 7.h3
Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Bb4 9.Be2 Nd7 10.a3 O-O-O 11.axb4 Qxa1+ 12.Kd2
Qxh1 13.Qxc6+ bxc6 14.Ba6# 1-0

Vlastimil Jansa vs Shaun M Taulbut
Copenhagen 1981 '
Chess opening-Scandinavian Defense: Classical Variation (B01)
[Result 0-1]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bd2 c6
7.Bc4 e6 8.Qe2 Bb4 9.Ne5 Nbd7 10.O-O-O Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.a3
b5 13.Ba2 Bxa3 14.bxa3 Qxa3+ 15.Kb1 O-O 16.Bc1 Qb4+ 17.Bb2 Nb6
18.Ka1 Rab8 19.Nb1 Nc4 20.Bc3 Qa4 21.Rd4 Rb6 22.Rxc4 bxc4
23.Qxc4 Qxc2 24.Bd4 Qxc4 25.Bxc4 Rb4 26.Na3 Ra4 27.Ka2 Rb8
28.Bc3 Be4 29.f3 Rxc4 30.Nxc4 Bd5 31.Bd4 Bxc4+ 32.Ka3 a5
33.Rc1 Bd5 34.Rc3 Rb1 35.Rd3 Rc1 36.Bb2 Rc2 37.g3 Rxh2 38.f4
h5 39.Rc3 Rf2 40.Rc5 Rf3+ 41.Rc3 Rf2 42.Rc5 h4 43.gxh4 Rxf4
44.h5 Rf3+ 45.Rc3 Rf5 46.Rh3 Rf3+ 47.Rxf3 Bxf3 48.Ka4 Bxh5
49.Kxa5 Bf3 50.Kb6 Kh7 51.Kc5 g5 52.Kd4 Kg6 53.Ke3 Bd5 54.Ba3
Kf5 55.Bd6 g4 0-1

David Navara vs Ladislav Dobrovolsky
ch-CZE 2001
Chess opening-Scandinavian Defense: Classical Variation (B01)
[Result 0-1]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Bd2
c6 7. Bc4 e6 8. Nd5 Qd8 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. Qe2 Nd7 11. O-O-O
Bg4 12. d5 Bxf3 13. gxf3 cxd5 14. Bxd5 O-O-O 15. Bxb7+ Kxb7
16. Qe4+ Kc8 17. Bf4 e5 18. Qa8+ Nb8 19. Be3 Be7 20. Bxa7 Kc7
21. Bxb8+ Rxb8 22. Qa7+ Rb7 23. Rd7+ Kxd7 24. Qxb7+ Ke6
25. Rd1 Qg5+ 26. Kb1 Rd8 27. Qc6+ Rd6 28. Qc8+ Kf6 29. Rxd6+
Bxd6 30. Qd8+ Be7 31. Qb6+ Kf5 32. a4 Qd2 33. Qc7 Qd1+ 34. Ka2
Qd5+ 35. Kb1 Bb4 36. Qc8+ Kf6 37. Qa6+ Kg5 38. c3 Bc5 39. Qb5
f6 40. a5 Qd1+ 41. Ka2 Bxf2 42. Qb7 Qa4+ 43. Kb1 g6 44. a6 h5
45. Qd5 Be3 46. Qd3 Bf4 47. h3 Kh4 48. Qd6 Kxh3 49. Qxf6 g5
50. Qb6 Kg2 51. a7 h4 52. b3 Qa3 53. Qb7 h3 54. a8=Q Qxa8
55. Qxa8 h2 56. Qa2+ Kg3 0-1

E Kakanas vs Vasilios Kotronias
3rd Open 2001
Chess opening-Scandinavian Defense: Main Lines. Mieses Variation (B01)
[Result 0-1]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 c6 6. Nf3
Bf5 7. Bc4 e6 8. Nd5 Qd8 9. Nxf6+ Qxf6 10. Bc3 Bg4 11. Be2 Qd8
12. Ne5 Bxe2 13. Qxe2 Be7 14. Qe4 Qd5 15. Qxd5 cxd5 16. Bd2 f6
17. Nf3 Nc6 18. O-O-O Kf7 19. g4 h5 20. g5 Bd6 21. Be3 Ne7
22. Nh4 Rae8 23. f4 Nf5 24. Nxf5 exf5 25. Kd2 Re4 26. gxf6
Rhe8 0-1