Best books/resources to learn the Black side of the Open Games?
, not Scandinavian.
(In the case of 2. Nf3) 2...Nf6 is called Russian , not Scandinavian.
Not sure how the International Society of Grammar handles chess descriptions in English... is "Scandinavian" an immediate modifier of "2...Nf6" or is it a continuation of the line in the previous sentence, but I digress...
We certainly don't live or play in an Open world, but I never truly grasped the shear number of Sicilians.
We certainly don't live or play in an Open world, but I never truly grasped the shear number of Sicilians.
You should come to Staten Island.
Try this.
https://www.amazon.com/Games-Black-White-Avoids-Lopez/dp/1901983277
Bologan's book is also excellent.
Possibly of interest:
First Steps 1 e4 e5 by GM John Emms
https://www.everymanchess.com/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/149/
Starting Out: Open Games by GM Glenn Flear (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232452/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen134.pdf
Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire by Nikolaos Ntirlis (2016)
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Playing1e4e5-excerpt.pdf
Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games (2014)
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Bologans-Black-Weapons-in-the-Open-Games-76p3873.htm
The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White by Larry Kaufman (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626221508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen162.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/955.pdf
Opening Repertoire: The Open Games with Black by Martin Lokander (2015)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7546.pdf
Starting Out: Ruy Lopez by John Shaw (2003)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627024240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen53.pdf
Bologan's Ruy Lopez for Black by Victor Bologan (2015)
http://www.sjakkbutikken.no/produkter/bologans-ruy-lopez-for-black/
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9016.pdf
Slay the Spanish by Timothy Taylor (2011)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627040230/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen146.pdf
Grandmaster Repertoire 13 – The Open Spanish by V. Mikhalevski (2013)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7234.pdf
Anti-Spanish. The Cozio Defence by Alexey Dreev (2014)
The Spanish Main Road by Evgeny Solozhenkin (2016)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7595.pdf
The Zaitsev System by Alexey Kuzmin
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9036.pdf
Man, that is a LOT of books! I was hoping for a passionately (even angrily) opinionated advanced player to narrow it down and tell me which book or combo of books would be best for a player at my level to start learning this.
Nobody but you can really know your reading and playing tastes, I have tried to provide information to help you decide what is best for you. For what it is worth, I favor books like the ones by Emms, Flear, and Shaw. Maybe try the Emms book and see if it is your cup of tea. If I remember correctly, you've been using the Scandinavian, and Emms will be good for a quick taste of 1 e4 e5. It may turn out that you will want to move on to one of the more ambitious books, but try to use the links to help you find something that will be helpful to you. By the way, aren't you the one who said that you don't play very often? That seems to me to be the sort of thing that will limit the effectiveness of any book, but perhaps there will be less of a problem if you go with something with a lot of verbal explanation.
By the way, if I remember correctly, Flear, Lokander, and the first Bologan book do not cover the Ruy Lopez. If you get one of those (and continue to be interested in 1 e4 e5), you will probably want to also get a Lopez book.
Just make it easy for yourself and get the book : 200 open games by David Bronstein.
Great writer and the subject your looking for. Enjoy..and your welcome 
https://www.chess.com/article/view/quot200-open-gamesquot-by-david-bronstein
Is it only available in descriptive notation (1 P-K4 P-K4 2 N-KB3 N-QB3)?
Answer to Kindaspongey : Good question there, i made some research and couldn't find an algebraic edition, so if that makes it unreadable im sorry otherwise a good book / Richard
(In the case of 2. Nf3) 2...Nf6 is called Russian , not Scandinavian.
Not sure how the International Society of Grammar handles chess descriptions in English... is "Scandinavian" an immediate modifier of "2...Nf6" or is it a continuation of the line in the previous sentence, but I digress...
Nope, Scandinavian defense is 1. e4 d5. 
Okay a solution/hack to the problem found. Buy the book and then go to chessgames.com there is a collection of games with the same name as the book title so you can get the moves from there and simultaneously read the excellent comments from the Bronstein book. Prepare with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee and a sandwich and let Bronsteins words of wisdom sharpen your chess understanding of the open games / Richard
Ntirlis's book 'Playing 1 e4 e5-A Classical Repertoire' from Quality Chess is fairly compact and highly rated. I have by no means finished it but like it so far.
Bologon's books on 1 e4 e5(2 volumes) are comprehensive but are much longer. But very useful for what is not in Ntirlis.
(In the case of 2. Nf3) 2...Nf6 is called Russian , not Scandinavian.
Not sure how the International Society of Grammar handles chess descriptions in English... is "Scandinavian" an immediate modifier of "2...Nf6" or is it a continuation of the line in the previous sentence, but I digress...
Nope, Scandinavian defense is 1. e4 d5.
One opening is the Centre Counter / Scandanavia, the other opening is the Petroff / Russian.
All other labels just continue the embellishment from various naming conventions.
If you want an all purpose system from the Black Side, play the Modern or the Hippo. If you want an opening system for black that kicks in on the 2nd move, play the Centre Counter or Petroff. But your opponent must essentially open with 1) e4 for these latter two suggestions to obtain. IF you really want to dive into openings per se, there's always ECO, or dozens of other tomes. But why bother? Openings (IMHO) are more like learning choreography for anyone below Expert Level USCF. Dance lessons anyone?
Looking at your game scores, I suggest you play Game in 10/5 until you can regularly achieve the completion of the game "on the board," rather than "on the clock," and your Blitz rating reaches 1400-1600. Otherwise, your opening work (and it's a truly massive literature) will just be a thoroughgoing waste of your time, IMHO. On balance, you're getting you butt kicked in Blitz and other fast speeds. That's where DannyHume perhaps needs an opening system adjustment? Just saying.
(In the case of 2. Nf3) 2...Nf6 is called Russian , not Scandinavian.
Not sure how the International Society of Grammar handles chess descriptions in English... is "Scandinavian" an immediate modifier of "2...Nf6" or is it a continuation of the line in the previous sentence, but I digress...
Nope, Scandinavian defense is 1. e4 d5.
If I remember correctly, in another thread, dannyhume mentioned his interest in 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6. In this thread, I think that he momentarily thought about giving up on the quest to learn 1 e4 e5 and going back to the 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 Scandinavian.