The Scandinavian Defense EXPLAINED!

Hello and welcome back to another daily opening explanation! Today we will talk about the Scandinavian Defense, and some of its variations, so let's get into it!

So first of all, you will be playing as black for this opening to work. The main line goes like this:   1. e4 from white, and 1. d5 from black. Your position should look like this:

The goal of that centre pawn you just pushed is to control the e4 and c4 square. Most of the time, white will take the d pawn you just pushed. If this occurs, then take the pawn with your queen like this:

Your queen is now out and in the game! This opening is now called the Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotrč, Main Line, Anderssen Counterattack. I know, it's a lot, but you don't have to memorize it or anything. White does gain tempo though, but your queen is very active on the board and right now, is controlling the 5th rank.

Now I will talk about if white DEFENDS their centre pawn like this:

If this happens, what I like to do is take the pawn, then they take back, and trade the queens. I like doing this because white king cannot castle anymore, and after they take, I can develop my knights and bishops with a centre pawn on the board. Here's what that would look like:

Now, in a lot of game where I play this opening, I see my opponent push their centre pawn like this:

What I like to do is push the f7 pawn like this:

Most of the time white takes that trade offer, and I gain tempo on white by taking that pawn while developing my knight. I put arrows to show you how much squares black is controlling, and white has no pieces out developed. This is almost a guaranteed win because of all of those important centre squares you are controlling! Here is a game I played with this happening:

Ok, it was an 800 elo game, it was pretty bad. But I won with that opening I was telling you about, so try playing it in your future games and let me know how it went in the comments below! That's all for today's daily opening, so I will see you next time!