Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...d5

Scandinavian defence
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Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3p4/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR
Moves: 1. e4 d5
ECO code: B01
Parent: King's pawn opening

1... d5 · Scandinavian defence

Black takes on White's centre head on. They are determined to disrupt White's centre and immediately open up the board, even if they have to give up their own hopes of big centre and some tempo to do it.

White could trade the pawn, defend it, or gambit it. 1...d5 is a very forcing response: almost invariably White captures, their plans derailed.

Trade the pawn

2. exd5 is almost always played. It's in White's interest to trade pawns, so they rarely do otherwise.

Usually Black recaptures with 2...Qxd5. This exposes chief drawback of the Scandinavian. Developing one's queen too early makes it a vulnerability, and White can develop 3. Nc3 while gaining tempo on it. For this reason, the modern variation follows up with 2...Nf6, intending to trade off knights first so that 4...Qxd5 can't be met with 5. Nc3.

Defend the pawn

Trying to defend the e pawn comes with trade offs, ranging from small (2. d3?! or 2. Nc3?!) to severe (2...f3?).

• 2. d3?! lets Black trade pawns then queens, and White loses the right to castle 2... dxe4 3. dxe4 Qxd1 4. Kxd1. Black's achieved equality and the nice open position they wanted but the game is drawish. After 2... dxe4, White can play 3. Nc3!? exd3 4. Bxe3, giving up all their central pawns for some development and transposing into something called the Dunst-Perrenet Gambit.
• 2. Nc3?! allows 2...d4, kicking White's knight. 3. Nce2 e5 and Black has a strong centre while White is cramped.
• 2. f3? defends e4 but is very unpleasant for White. If White intends 2... dxe4 3. fxe4, they may avoid the Scandinavian but at the cost of a weakened kingside. However, Black can play 2...e5, leaving the tension, and White's position is awful: they can't play Nf3 because their pawn is there, the king's bishop has no good squares, and Nc3 will be met by d4. White should probably play exd5 anyway, and end up the Scandinavian game they were wanting to avoid, but now they've played f3.
• 2. e5?! to avoid the pawn trade allows Black to clamp down on d4 with 2...c5, and/or play Bf4 then e6, achieving a superior French defence structure without its passive bishop.

Gambit the pawn

If White really wants to avoid the Scandinavian, then they'd do better to gambit the pawn instead.

• 2. d4 transposes into the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, usually seen after 1.d4 d5. It has some chance of leading Black awry if they do not play 1...d5 against 1.d4. If Black prefers to decline the gambit, they can steer the game into the French, Caro-Kann, or Nimzovich defences.
• 2. Nf3 is the Tennison Gambit. At first it looks like a pre-move mistake, as 2... dxe4 will kick the knight. One plan for White is to win the pawn back only after getting ahead in development thanks to the threat on f7 (3. Ng3 (targets e4 and f7) Nf6?! (defends e4) 4. Bc4 (double attack on f7) e6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ngxe4). Another plan is the internet-famous Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Gambit.

Bad moves

• 2. c3? allows White to regain the pawn after 2... dxe4 3. Qa4+. White decides that they would rather have their queen bullied about the board to give Black free tempi: 3...Nc6 4. Qxe4 Nf6 5. Qa4 and White is way behind in development.
• 2. g4? is called the Zilbermints Gambit.

History

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Position after 1.e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Bd2 Bf5

The Scandinavian, or Centre-counter defence, is one of the oldest chess openings, described in a 15th Century Valencian poem. In the 20th century, Bent Larsen revived the opening and defeated Anatoly Karpov with it in 1979.

Its appeal to modern players is two-fold: firstly, 1...d5 is very forcing. Whereas with 1...e5, say, Black must be prepared to face a host of openings at White's choosing (the Italian, Spanish, Vienna, King's Gambit and so on), after 1...d5 2. exd5 almost always occurs so Black dictates the course of play. They may reliably reach 2...Qxd4 3. Nc3 Qa4 almost every time they face 1. e4 if they choose.

Secondly is the character of the typical Scandinavian pawn structure, which results in quieter and easy play for Black. Matthias Wahls writes on the popularity of the Scandinavian,

In the majority of all cases, the same standard pawn centre appears with a white pawn on d4 and black pawns on e6 and c6. The stability of this pawn constellation confers a static character on the position. Sharp, forcing lines are the exception. The Scandinavian is unquestionably a model opening... You can also steer the course through the opening moves relatively easily without extensive theoretical knowledge, simply by making use of patterns and structural rules.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. e4 d5

	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Scandinavian defence, main line	exd5 Qxd5	Nc3 Qa5	d4 Nf6	Nf3 c6	Bd2 Bf5					=
Lasker variation	... ...	... ...	... ...	... Bg4	h3 Qh5?	hxg4 Qxh1	Ne2 Nxg4	Ng3 Qxf1+	Nxf1	+−
	... ...	... ...	... ...	... ...	... Bh5	g4 Bg6	Ne5 Nbd7	Nc4		±
Leonhardt gambit	... ...	... ...	b4!? Qxb4	Rb1 Qd6	d4 Nf6	Nf3				=
	... ...	... ...	... ...	Nb5 Qa5	Bc4 c6??	Bxf7+ Kxf7	Qh5+ g6	Nd6+ exd6	Qxa5	+-
	... ...	... ...	... ...	... ...	... Nf6					⩱
Modern Scandinavian	... Nf6	d4
Marshall variation	... ...	... Nxd5	Nf3 Bf5	Bd3 Bxd3	Qxd3 e6	O-O
Richter variation	... ...	... ...	... g6	c4 Nb6	Nc3 Bg7	Be2 O-O	O-O			⩲
Gipslis variation	... ...	... ...	... Bg4	Be2 e6	O-O Nc6	c4 Nb6	Nc3 Be7	d5
Portuguese gambit	... ...	... Bg4	f3 Bf5
	... ...	Nc3?! Nxd5	Nxd5 Qxd5	d4						=
Blackburne-Kloosterboer gambit	... c6
Tennison gambit	Nf3 dxe4	Ng5 Nf6	Bc4 e6	Nc3 Qd4	Qe2					=
Intercontinental ballistic missile gambit accepted	... ...	... ...	d3 exd3	Bxd3 h6??	Nxf7 Kxf7	Bg6+ Kxg6	Qxd8			+/-
	... ...	... ...	... ...	... e5??	Bb5+ c6	Qxd8+ Kxd8	Nxf7+			+/-
Blackmar-Diemer transposition	d4 dxe4	Nc3 Nf6	f3 exf3	Nxf3 g6	Bc4 Bg7
Ryder gambit	... ...	... ...	... ...	Qxf3!? Qxd4

References

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.