Welcome to my blog!

Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.- Rudolf Spielmann.

Are you tilting a lot, to the point you wonder if you should change games and start playing checkers? ( Sorry I'm a sinner for saying this, please forgive me, God of Chess, @erik 😭). Then don't worry, throw those checker pieces out of the window, because I'm about to show you the most evil way to draw and slowly get your rating back, make your opponents hate you, and secure almost every time a win or a draw: The Scandinavian Defense.

However, if you don't want to be evil and want to have fun learning a new opening, I've also got that secured. Welcome to my new series: The Scandinavian Defense for Black.

This is going to become a series where I'll teach how to play as black, using The Scandinavian. In this blog, I'll focus only on the lines where white takes the pawn on d5, since there are a lot of possibilities and I don't think I have the time to write all the variants and explain them in one blog.

Don't worry; I didn't forget to react to your games. I'm delaying it a bit because of BlogChamps. Anyway, without further ado, let's get into this blog!

NOTE: If you want to choose to play the "evil" line, go to ...3 Qd6, but if you don't know anything about the opening, I'd recommend you to go to The Main Line first. Also, don't forget to have fun reading my blog!

Table of Contents

1. History

1.1 The Origin

1.2 Late 1800s and early 1900s

1.3 Modern Era

2. The Opening 

2.1 How To Play The Scandinavian?

2.2.1 The Main Line

2.2.2 Model Game 1

2.2.3 Quiz Time 1!

2.3.1 ...3 Qa5

2.3.2 Model Game 2

2.3.3 Quiz Time 2!

2.4.1 ...3 Qd6

2.4.2 Model Game 3

2.4.3 Quiz Time 3!

3.Extra

3.1 Resources for further analysis

3.2 Thank you to...

3.3 Outro

1. History

NOTE: If you don't want to read the history of this opening, you can skip this part completly, it's your decision, I'm not forcing you to read it, but just so you know, I spent a lot of time researching the history of this opening, so I'll be more than happy if you read it and review it in the comments. If you skip it, then also skip the questions about the history of the opening at the first quiz( or maybe you already know them, I don't know what you know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

 The Scandinavian, also known as "The Scandi", is an opening that is far easier to learn than other popular openings, such as the well-known Sicilian Defense and the classic, yet solid 1.e4, e5. However, this opening has a very interesting history.

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The Origin

The first recorded game in which the Scandinavian Defense was played dates back to 1475, which was a fictional game in the poem Schacs d'amor. This game was also the first ever chess game that was ever recorded. The players in this game are the actual writers, Francesc de Castellvi (playing white) and Narcis Vinyoles (playing black), while the third writer, Bernat Fenollar, comments and establishes the rules.

The poem is structured like a chess match, of course, between the two players, as they debate the nature of love. The opening played in the game would later become known as the Scandinavian Defense. I won't talk a lot about the game, since it was played more for the development of the story, rather than being a competitive game, however I will analyze it, since it is a monumental game in the whole history of our loved board game, and it's also related to the opening.

So yeah, I knew Eric Rosen was that old, but not THAT OLD.

 Anyway, let's continue the history of the opening.

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Late 1800s and early 1900s

In the late 19th century, Scandinavian masters analyzed the opening and found it playable for black; hence comes the name of the opening: The Scandinavian Defense.

While the opening wasn't the go-to choice of top players, Grandmaster Jacques Mieses and Joseph Henry Blackburne, also nicknamed "The Black Death", often played it, making significant contributions to its theory during that time.

Even though it wasn't a common pick, notable players of that time, such as Siegbert Tarrasch, Rudolph Spielmann, and Savielly Tartakower, gave it a try. The most notable achievement of that period is that José Raul Capablanca, future world champion, managed to win twice with it at the New York Chess Tournament in 1915.

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Modern Era

In the 1950s, the International Master Nikola Karaklajic started using the opening a lot. The opening had a drought of top chess players using it until the 1960s came around, when former world championship finalist David Bronstein and women's world champion Nona Gaprindashvili started using it occasionally. Grandmaster Bent Larsen was an occasional user of the opening, and he even defeated Anatoly Karpov with it at Montreal in 1979.

 A question arises: Who is the best Scandinavian Defense player? This question doesn't have a clear answer since it depends on the point of view. If we want to theoretically find the best Scandinavian Defense player, we have to see who got the best results with the opening.

Statistically speaking, the best top player for "The Scandi" is  Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, with a score of 80.5/131, getting over 55 draws, 53 wins and only losing 23 times, which are good stats( for you, procent lovers, he's got a 61.4% win rate (counting draws because most games end in a draw during the Scandinavian)

We're also going to talk about him later in the blog because one of his games will be a model for variations of the opening. For now, that is all for the History of the opening, so let's continue with the mainline of the Scandinavian Defense, shall we?

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2. The Opening

Now, we can get to the actual opening. The Scandinavian Defense, formerly known as the Center-Counter Defense, is a King's Pawn Opening, the 7th most popular response to 1 e4. The Scandinavian is a very closed opening, yet it has some variations that black can play very aggressively.

Like any other opening, it's got its upsides and downsides. The main upside of the Scandinavian is the fact that black gets some counterplay, while the big downside is that white has a lot of space to develop. 

How To Play The Scandinavian?

Well, to learn an opening, you need to know how the opening starts, of course. The Scandinavian starts when black responds to the classic move pawn to e4 with the move pawn to d5. So this is how the start of "The Scandi" looks:

So, there's quite some responses to every move, and some even have a lot more lines, but like I said, it's way more easier to understand than other openings such as The Sicilian with like 20 different lines which have even more variations, or the ..1 e5, which can take you in a lot of directions. 

As I said in the beginning, in this blog, I will discuss only the lines where white takes on d5.

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The Main Line

As with any other opening, the Scandinavian Defense has its own mainline. Then we can get a lot more possibilities.

There are two options, Nc4 and h3, the more popular one being h3. Firstly, let's see how we can play at h3.

Now, let's analyse white's other option, Nc3.

This line gives you a somewhat weird position, but it is still very reliable and useful if white plays Nf3. The other line is way less chaotic, and if you don't like playing in a very open position, this is what I would recommend.

Let's move on to 5. Bc4, shall we?

This line could be considered the definition of "Risk a lot, win a lot", since it's got a lot of moments where you're asking yourself if  "Are titled players playing this, or is it just 400's blundering their pieces?"

And now, for the final line of this variation, 5. Bd2.

The possible moves here could be described in one meme quite well, that being:

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Model Game 2

The game I chose for being a model is a game played between the legendary players, Anatoly Karpov and Bent Larsen, at Montreal in 1979. Wait, didn't we talk about a match between them? Well, this is the game we talked about earlier in the blog! Let's see how the game goes.

A very...interesting opening, we'll see how the game progresses.

White starts attacking black, forcing him to play very passively.

That is right, everyone, a brilliant move! Can you find it in this position? (black to move)

Click here to see the right answer

Bxh4, an excellent move by black!

Another brilliant move, can you find it? (black to move)

Click here to see the right answer.

Nxb4, what an incredible brilliant!

Great game by both players, with a lot of action, especially in the endgame!

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♟Quiz Time 2!♟

 It's time for the second quiz of this blog, and by now, I think you know the drill. Let's begin, shall we?

Question 1:

 What is the most popular move in this position? (white to move)

A) Bc4

B) Nf3

C) a3

D) Bd2

Click to see the right answer

B) Nf3.

Question 2:

Why is this not a good move?

A) The pawn that the queen took was poisoned.

B) White now has a counterattack, which makes black's position very passive.

C) There is nothing wrong with this move; it's just a free pawn!

D) This move forces a sequence of repetitive moves, causing a draw.

Click to see the right answer

A) The pawn that the queen took is poisoned.

Question 3:

What is the best move here? (black to move) 

A) Bf5

B) Be6

C) Bh5

D) Bd7

Click to see the right answer

D) Bd7.

 

The quiz is over! What score did you get? I know, this was a shorter quiz, since I only talked about one variation, while in the first one, I also put questions about the history of the opening.

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...3 Qd6

The moment you've all been waiting for, the second most hyped up event in human history after the results of Blogchamps S8 Week 2, ladies and gentlemen, how to "almost" force a draw every time.

The Qd6 line is the most passive, yet it has a very hard structure to pierce through. This is how the variation starts. 

From here, white has 2 good possibilities, these being d4 and Nf3. Let's start with the most popular move, which is d4.

So, as you can see, black gets a very closed position, which often results in a draw.

Now, let's see how to play against Nf3.

So, kids, remember this is one of the many ways to torture a 1. e4 player .

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Model Game 3.

You know I told you that we are going to analyse one of Tiviakov's games? Well, the time has come. We are going to analyse the game between the future World Champion, Vishwanathan Anand, and grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov. 

Can you find the line? A hint is the fact that, in the way, black does 2 brilliant moves, and the goal is to take the pawn on c2. (black to move)

Click to see the right answer.

...12 Bg4!!, 13. dxc6, bxc6!! 14. Qe2, Bxf3, 15. Qxf3, Qxc2

So, here's your proof that with these types of positions, you can draw against almost anyone. I managed to draw against a 2000 in a rapid game using the Scandinavian.

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♟Quiz Time 3!♟

We've come this far, huh? It's time for the final quiz of this blog.

Question 1:

What usually results from this type of position?

A) White usually wins

B) Draw

C) Black usually wins.

Click to see the right answer

B) Draw

Question 2:

What is usually the most played move here? (black to move)

A) d4

B) Nf3 

C) Ne4

D) g3

Click to see the right answer

A) d4.

Question 3:

Is this a good move?

A) Yes

B) No

Click to see the right answer

B) No

Well, I hope you enjoyed the quizzes, and if you think I can improve them in any way, feel free to tell me in the comments!

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Extra

If you consider this information enough, or just don't want to see extra stuff like credits and so on. You can leave this blog, I hope you enjoyed it! See you next time!

Resources for further analysis

1. IM John Bartholomew's Scandinavian by John Bartholomew (link to free version) https://www.chess.com/courses/train/bfe375fc-6c69-4aa1-ab1d-c3b5e9511e68

2. Lifetime Repertories: Scandinavian by Robert Ris

https://www.chess.com/courses/train/9c88842c-8c89-4be6-9817-824b0e6cbea9

3. Short & Sweet: Scandinavian by Robert Ris( this is a version with only the necessary lines of Lifetime Repertories)

https://www.chess.com/courses/train/632a6a4e-12c1-4725-9646-4e41dd9d8c83

4. CRUSH People with the Scandinavian Defense by GothamChess (Levy Rozman)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up9c5bbMJvE

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Thank you to...

@Charmander- for helping me not to give up writing this blog

@VOB96- helping so much with this blog, especially with the quizzes.

Blogchamps- for being a very helpful community, helping me with the thumbnail, analysis, and many more.

The ones who made significant changes in this opening - because otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this

The Judges- for spending their free time in trying to review someone's blog to try to help them improve; I appreciate your work so much.

You, the reader- for reading my blog  

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Outro

All things must come to an end...and I guess this is the end of this blog. Please tell me how I can improve my next blogs. I hope you enjoyed me yapping over an opening and I hope I see you guys next time.

~@squirtle

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