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| Apr-03-09 | | Dredge Rivers: <chessman95>
<I just have trouble understanding the reasoning behind your openings.> It's quite simple, if faced with an opening you're not too familiar with, try to take your opponent out of what they have prepared. If you don't you're likely to fall into a trap. The purpose of the opening, as Portisch pointed out, is not to try to gain a big advantage, but just to reach a playable middlegame. |
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| Apr-03-09 | | acirce: <Dredge Rivers> Yes but nothing is going to happen to you if you don't play perfectly against the Scandinavian, unless you blunder the worst thing is that Black equalizes. That being the case, why allow him to do that (or more) as early as move 2? |
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| Apr-03-09 | | chessman95: <if faced with an opening you're not too familiar with, try to take your opponent out of what they have prepared.> That's just not good advise. If you're not familiar with an opening, then playing minor lines in it is not the right way to go. Rather, minor variations should only be used after one has learned all the theory of an opening and knows just what he is 'avoiding'. There's no point in 'avoiding' theory you don't even know, and in your case it's obvious that you don't know the Scandinavian very well, so I suggest you just do a bit of studying and then decide if you really want to avoid that theory with rare moves. |
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| Apr-03-09 | | Dredge Rivers: <chessman95>
Thank you for your advice, but 2. Nc3 is hardly a "rare" line. It's the third most often used in this database. (295 in all) White has won 39.7% of those games. So, what's the problem? |
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| Apr-03-09 | | chessman95: <Dredge Rivers>
It's only played 6.36% of the time in that position. (Opening Explorer) I guess I would call that 'rare'. Anyhow, there is no problem, but with openings like the Scandinavian where there isn't much to learn anyway, I don't think it's wise to avoid the theory with moves that give black an easy game when you could get a solid advantage. |
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| Apr-04-09 | | MaxxLange: Let us stop our bickering, and gather round! The great day is here! New In Chess Yearbook arrived, and it is time to learn about the anti-Scandinavian Gambit that Kasparov played in simuls! No one guessed right. The line is 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qa5 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5 7 g4 Bg6 8 b4!? If the pawn is taken, then 9 Bd2 threatens Nb5 and Rb1. Black is just about forced to play 9...Qd6, "with a kind of caricature of the 3...Qd6 line". The gambit can be declined by 8...Qb6. Kasparov would then play 9 Bg2. The article says that the line was first played in 1990 by one Alexander Volkov, who beat someone named Nemov in 14 moves. Volkov wrote an article about it in NiC 20. |
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| Apr-05-09 | | drukenknight: Forget that, play my famous Reverse Two Knights var. Here is a fun one, featuring a barely tested, but highly important fianchetto, a wandering K and misplaced knights. Enjoy: 1. e4 d5
2. Nc3 (the Dutch seem to play this the most: Van Geet, Leeners and van de Berg have the most games as white) … d4
3. Nce2 e5
4. g3 (only 3 games in the crap data base
… Bg4 (just being silly)
5. f3 Bh5
6. d3 (g3 would be even more fun) Nf6
7. Bg2 Be7
8. f4 Nc6
9. fxe5 Nxe5
10. Bf4 Bd6
11. Bxe5 Bxe5
12. Nf3 Qd6
13. O-O Ng4
14. Nxe5 Qxe5 (should recapture with N, black is toast) 15. Rf5 Qe6
16. Nxd4 (an excellent play by myself to keep this game going long after it should have been won) ...Qg6
17. Qd2 Nh6
18. Re5+ Kd7
19. Bh3+ Bg4
20. Bg2 Rhe8
21. Rd5+ Kc8
22. Qf4 Qb6
after 22…Qb6 white to not mess up:
click for larger view23. b3? (bad) Be6
24. Kh1 Bxd5
25. exd5 Qd6
26. Bh3+ Kd8
27. Qh4+ f6
28. Bg2 c6
29. Ne6+ Rxe6
30. dxe6 Qxe6
31. Qd4+ (crap pc gives: Qb4 equality)
31… Kc7
32. Be4 Re8
33. Bxh7 Qe2
34. Qf4+ Kc8
35. Rc1 Rh8
36. Bg6
after 36 Bg6; how does it go from here:
click for larger view |
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| Apr-06-09 | | MaxxLange: <drukenknight> A friend of mine who likes the 1.Nc3 opening plays that transposition (1. Nc5 d5 2. e4) sometimes. I must admit that I am not a believer :) |
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Apr-07-09
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: 1.e4,d5; 2.f3? looks like a mistake to me. Since Black doesn't mind the early development of the Queen (he did play the Scandinavian, after all!), just play 2...e5!, intending 3...Bc5. 3.exd5,Qxd5; 4.Nc3,Qa5, and ...e5 is obviously more useful to Black than f3 is to White. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | blacksburg: hello everyone, let's take a look at some of the available literature on the 2...Qxd5 Scandinavian. 
click for larger viewfor starters, the <MCO> and the <NCO> - <Modern Chess Openings, 14th Edition>, by Nick de Firmian - <3 pages> on the whole of the Scandy, including 2...Nf6 systems. <3>. for comparison - the Sicilian Defense gets <102 pages>. the open games, positions after 1.e4 e5, gets <146 pages>. <Nunn's Chess Openings>, by Nunn, et al. - <4 pages> on the whole of the Scandy, including 2...Nf6 systems. for comparison - the Sicilian Defense gets <102 pages.> the open games get <72 pages>. if you're lazy like me, the choice is clear!
next, the excellent <Chess Opening Essentials - Volume 1: The Complete 1.e4>, by Stefan Djuric, et al. - <3.5 pages> on the whole Scandy, including 2...Nf6. for comparison, the Sicilian Defense gets <134 pages>. the open games get <112 pages>. yes, i am lazy.
let's move on to books on the Scandinavian.
<The Scandinavian, 2nd Edition> by John Emms - i like this book very much. it is not a repertoire book for black, but rather an objective overview of ideas for white and black players. 37 complete games in the 2...Qxd5 system, including many that are sadly not in the database. the second half of the book is on the 2...Nf6 system, but i haven't read it yet, because, well, i'm lazy. the introduction has a nice explanation of common ideas in the Scandy, such as light square strategies for black and the importance of the d5 break for white. this book does NOT address 2nd move alternatives for white. no Blackmar-Diemer Gambit <BDG>. incindentally, i love seeing white opponents play the <BDG>. the <BDG> is by no means a reason not to play the Scandy. after all, if you're scared of the <BDG>, then after 1.d4, you'd be scared to play 1...d5, and that's just silly. <The Scandinavian Defense> by Michael Melts - this book is all about 3...Qd6. this book is way over my head. many many pages with no words, only variations and Informator symbols. i suspect that this would be good for players that are much better than me, but i'm not sure. however, i can say that the introduction is very good, and has a bunch of words, too, which is good. <The Essential Center-Counter> by Andrew Martin - ok...i actually really like this book...really, i do. this is a repertoire book for black. and i do like it...but...ok. <1> - it's ugly. it's doodoo brown. why do publishers select doodoo brown as cover art? i dunno. <2> - proofreading apparently didn't happen. here's 2 diagrams from pages 23 and 67 
click for larger view
click for larger viewthe Scandy is a great defense - it's short on theory, and bonus - black gets <9 pawns> and <3 Bishops> OMG!!!1!111!!! there are many other typos in the book that i've found. and the organization and placement of diagrams is a little bit strange. this could have been a very good book if they had spent a little more time on proofreading and layout, but as it stands, i still like it. it's very good for patzers like me. this book also covers 2nd move alternatives for white, including <BDG>. actually, it's a little bit like <Pandolfini's Endgame Course> - lots of typos and mistaken diagrams, but somehow still very instructive for amateurs. and that's about it. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | Everyone: Hello <blacksburg>. I actually really like your overview on the 2...Qxd5 Scandinavian. Good work. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | blacksburg: hehe, i wrote it just for you, <everyone>. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | blacksburg: also, i don't have any of those <Win With 1.e4!> type books for white, but if anyone does, i'd be interested to see what they have to say about the <Scandy>. <Scandy> sounds a little weird. <Scando> also sounds weird. i'd go with <Scandinator>, but that takes just as long to type as <Scandinavian>. see how lazy i am? it's shameful. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | blacksburg: regarding some of the 2nd move alternatives for white that are discussed above, here are <Andrew Martin>'s recommendations - 2.e5 - of course, the obvious idea is to get to an advance french setup with the c8-bishop freed, but Martin recommends 2...c5, not 2...Bf5, because black retains the option of pinning a knight on f3 and exchanging the bishop. 2.Nc3 - Martin recommends 2...dxe4 3.Nxe4 Bf5 - and we are in a classical caro-kann but without ...c6 from black and d4 from white. this is useful because black usually would like to play ...c5 in the classical caro, and in this line, black has not wasted a tempo on ...c6. of course, this requires some idea of how to play the classical caro. the omittance of ...c6 and d4 certainly favors black. 2.d4 - here's Martin's comments on the <BDG> - "It is going to happen to you one day, someone is going to play the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit! I have never seen an opening with so much propaganda attached to it. Books, websites, articles in magazines hammering away with the message that White has a fantastic attacking game. Rubbish!" these seem to be practical and useful recommendations, especially if you have some experience in the Caro-Kann. |
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| Apr-07-09 | | parisattack: <blacksburg: hello everyone, let's take a look at some of the available literature on the 2...Qxd5 Scandinavian.> The Scan had a great run in the 90s but seems to have cooled off a tad. There are probably 8-10 more books on it beyond those mentioned (some good, some dreadful). I'll try to list tonight. Winning with 1. e4 (Soltis) has 22 pages on the Scan, two illustrative games. Schiller's White to Play 1. e4 and Win has 14 pages of very well annotated Scan games. (Curiously the TOC omits this section and I almost missed it.) |
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| Apr-07-09 | | parisattack: I pulled my Scan books; I am sure there are more, still! The oldest is – Chess Opening Explained:Center Counter by duMont from 1920. The remainder in how I’d rate them from best to worst…very subjective especially insofar as I don’t play the Scan: The Scandinavian by Emms
Scandinavian Defence by Plaskett
Scandinavian Defense – The Dynamic …3. Qd6 by Melts
Scandinavian – Anderssen Counter Attack by Lutes
Winning with the Scandinavian by Harmon/Taulbut
Center Counter Defense Portuguese Variation by Anderson
Center Counter Uprising by Dunn/Taylor
Scandinavian the Easy Way by Martin
500 Center Counter Miniatures by Wall
Winning with the Center Counter by Smith/Hall
Starting Out – Scandinavian by Houska (I am prejudiced against the Starting Out series as I think they are all dreadful.) |
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| Apr-07-09 | | whiteshark: Yesterdays PotD, Matthias Wahls wrote 2 books on the Scandinavian in German.
Scandinavian books reviewed at chesscafe.com : http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hanse... <This book is eight years old and in German, but for devotees of the Scandinavian with 2...Qxd5 and 3...Qa5, this is one book you absolutely must have. It has tons of game references, analysis, and information on minor variations that you cannot find elsewhere. In addition, the author, German grandmaster Matthias Wahls, is one of the finest connoisseurs of this opening.> His practice: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... |
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| Apr-13-09 | | blacksburg: <No one guessed right. The line is 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qa5 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5 7 g4 Bg6 8 b4!?> the modern theory considers 5...Bg4 to be a mistake, and prefers 5...Bf5. Emms comments on 5...Bg4 - <This was utilized by the Australian GM Ian Rogers with some success in the 1980's and used to be considered the main line of the 2...Qxd5 variation. Unfortunately, towards the end of the 1980's it took a bit of a hammering, with White players finding numerous ways to virtually refute Black's opening plan. At first Rogers was able to resuscitate some of the variations, but eventually even he was forced to concede defeat and drop the line from his repertoire. > |
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| Apr-15-09 | | blacksburg: i'm angry at you again, B01. you got me CRUSHED in a game today. i'm gonna go see what 1...e5 is doing. please don't call me. |
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| Apr-15-09 | | notyetagm: <blacksburg: i'm angry at you again, B01. you got me CRUSHED in a game today. i'm gonna go see what 1...e5 is doing. please don't call me.> B01 sucks.
You need to spend some time and learn a *real* opening. |
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Apr-15-09
 | | keypusher: <blacksburg: you got me CRUSHED in a game today. > That's funny, B01 said the exact same thing about you! :) Well, OK, maybe not. But I find that I do a lot more harm to my openings than my openings do to me. |
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| Apr-15-09 | | MaxxLange: When I was last playing a lot of tournament chess, almost 10 years ago, the 2...Nf6 Scandinavian was looking large. The variation with 3 d4 Bg4 was to be feared, as well as the dreaded Icelandic Gambit with 3...e6 How did all that stuff fare? I get the sense that the current fashion is for 2...Qxd5 and 3...Qd6!? What is even the idea of that line for Black?
Many questions! |
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| Apr-21-09 | | SirChrislov: Let me show you a game where I was cheated out of a draw played in Feb. 2009 in a simul against a master using the scandinavian: His name is Robert Jamie Schloss,a lawyer rated 2199, he's a member of one of the strongest chess clubs in so. california: the Sta. monica bay chess club. I'm only an intermediate player 1700-1800. He played 1.e4(this was actually supposed to be a simul by GM Varuzhan Akobian but he never arrived.) and I played my weapon against 1.e4: the 2.Nf6 line of the scandinavian, and we all know if your're going to play competitive chess, you gotta have a weapon against 1.e4! play went 1...d5 2.exd5 Nf6 and he played the main line with 3.d4 and here black doesn't worry too much about recapuring the unit, instead he plays 3.Bg4 the Jadoul or Belgian gambit with the idea of active piece play, development,attack! and he's happy to be down a unit for it. 4.Bb5+ Nbd7 5.f3(ugly move for white) Bf5 6.c4 a6 7.Bxd7 Qxd7 8.Nc3(finally white starts to develop) 0-0-0 9.Be3 e6! 10.dxe6 Qxe6 11.Qe2 Bb4 12.0-0-0 Rhe8(developing the last piece. at this point I was proud of my position. I'm sure many players and even GM's would prefer to have black here.)13.Bf2 Qd7 14.Qd2?!(pinnig the knight but where's the Q gonna go?) 14...Qc6 15.g4(at this piont he picked up his b unit and moved it to b3 but he paused and said "hmmm, well that's not good" and he retracted the move, so he violated touch-move, but he never really let go of the unit after he placed it on b3. as you can see if 15.b3, 15...Bh3+ and it's all over.) 15...Bg6 16.h4? trying to trap the Bishop but... 16...Nxg4! 17.fxg4 Qxh1 h5 Be4(and the bishop is saved!) Nge2 Qf3 Bh4 f6 Qf4 Qxf4(i'm winning so i'm happy to exchange) Nxf4 Bxc3 bxc3 Bf3 Rg1 c5?! d5 Re4 Ne6 Rd6 Nxg7 Rxg4 Rxg4 Bxg4 Ne8 Rb6 Nxf6 Bxh5!(if N takes then Rh6) Nxh7 Be2 Be7 Bxc4 d6 and here I should have played Be6! or as Chessmaster recommends,Be2 to stop the unit when the knight comes to f8 or f6 to assist it. but I played Bxh2? and he played Nf8 and after Rxd6 it looks like a draw but check this: when he came back to my table, he played d7, and I said wait a aminute, it's my move. he said your move? you played bxc4 and bxc2 right? so it's whits move. and at this point he confused me and actually made me believe it was his move. and after d7 of course I tipped my King. but then I thought, wait a aminute, you cheating bastard! he played Nf8 last! it's black's move! and that my friens is how I was cheated out of a adraw against a amaster and of course after Rxd6 Bxd6 b6 which is what I was thinking of playing before he came over and played d7, it's a adraw. I analized this ending when I got home that night on Chessmaseter and in all lines it gives draw. and this my friends is my grandest game against a master. Viva la Scandinovicsh Defence!! (after the game he said I was winning the whole time.) |
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| Apr-21-09 | | blacksburg: omg wall of text |
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| Apr-21-09 | | MaxxLange: <3.Bg4 the Jadoul or Belgian gambit with the idea of active piece play, development,attack!> Right, that's what it is called - thanks. The one time I played against it, I knew that 3. Be2 was supposed to be bad, so White plays f3. But Black gets a sharp attack then. I had seen the great sacrificial game that brought the whole line into fashion, and didn't want to play into any of that. So, I decided to make the guy show me what's wrong with 3. Be2. I don't remember what he played, but he didn't really get anything. After the game, I think I looked it up and 3...h5 is supposed to be the move. |
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