Everyone should learn the Scotch

No matter the level, I believe that the Scotch is playable & just as good if not better for a lot of people than the Ruy Lopez or Italian game.

It's simple, not as theoretical as the insanely dense Ruy Lopez & you get a playable strategic centered position that offers winning chances mainly for white

i wont lol

Do you plan on making a series on the scotch too Garu?

Hey let's play lol

I think I will eventually! But I plan to at least read one or two books in preparation for them so it might take a while 😅

I think I'll pass on that, I know you're definitely good 🤣 I wanna focus on bulking up my repertoire first

I agree, the Scotch is massively underrated because the Italian is taught as a beginner opening to get the Bishop out and the Ruy Lopez gets popularity from just about every Super GM playing it. I enjoy the Scotch Gambit, though I play both. For awhile I found e4 e5 a dread to play against because I felt I had no good exciting option, but thankfully I discovered the Scotch

I am not a beginner, and I play the Italian.  It is a fully legit line against 1...e5.

I’m starting on the Italian after years with the scotch and scotch gambit. I bought a course, with video, from Chessable. The positions seem very interesting, incredibly sharp in many cases, and very interesting/exciting. I’m looking forward to lots more learning in the italian…..

I didn't mean to say it's MERELY a beginner opening, I meant to say that it's immense popularity amongst lower rated players is because it is usually taught as the first thing to teach opening principles. It's no doubt a good opening even usable at superGM level (thought less common than the Ruy ofc) 

It's definitely a very overlooked opening, but I still think the Ruy Lopez is better. You don't have to play all the theoretical lines, I usually just play with d3, and then most often d4 later.

ponziani is a like a more trappy scotch u play a delayed d4 with c3

+1 scotch is very good unless black plays the schmidt properly, but no one under 2000 will do that

Yes it's more trappy, but also a much worse version

i think at the scholastic level, emphasis on piece development is emphasized so much, i think it can even hinder the understanding of an  almost as important aspect of the game, which is the preservation of central tension. Scotch is very good at that, whereas a diet of too many italian and 4 knight games almost teaches kids to make pieces go around the central battle, like a jammed highway instead of a fluid one.

not really it does not lose or smth its juat a draw with best play

Perhaps everybody schould learn every opening  at least ib basics, just to improve overal understanding. As for the scotch game itself  i am not really a fan of it. Ferstival, i think steinitz variation makes it not practical at lower levels. Besides, everybody and their mother seems to just close their eyes and  exchenge the knigths no matter what. Why all those scotchpeople love simplified positions so much? A reason to play steinitz variation, i think the only one that prevents Nxc6.

Lines pls? Also taking on d4 gives white an edge so I'm happy with it

yeah the steinitz is a little tricky but if you learn the theory, you'll have a decent advantage out of the opening

@ninjaswat.

Steinitz variation is usually considered dubious. It however strikes at the very fundaments of white's idea, and it suprising how many scotch players are completally unprepared for it. 

I consider it makes scotch game unpractical at low level because:

- it is very forcefull - I've easily managed to learn a lot by heart. Like in no other opening. Black is likely to grossly outprepare white.

- pretty much anything but the main line is better for black. Sometimes slightly, sometimes crushingly. 

- the main line is extremally counterintuitive. No chance to find it OTB. You have be prepered.

- the main line is about sacrificing a pawn and going for an long term initiative. Good luck at  beginner level. At high level most players consider the initiative way too strong, and the defence way too difficult and risky. However, as far as i know there is no defininite refutation, and black's position has been proven many time to be suprisingly resilent.

Eksamples from my game. The lines go from memory, as said i remember a lot in the line.

Most games look like that, when the scotchmen is clueless:

The point is that with 4...Qh4 black not only immediatelly attacks the e4 pawn, but also starts building up a speedy attack on white king. There is no comfortable solution to both problems. One of my games went:

another went:

It is arleady a long post, so i will show more later.