thoughts on the scotch gambit

On 7. cxd4 you are in a much better position.  Just because you offer the gambit pawn doesn't mean you should ignore it.  By taking there you maintain a nice center and all yourself a later h3! kicking that Knight to the rim.

The Scotch is a great tool for blitz I find, but in long games, it is too easy for Black to defend accurately, even with the nice initiative White gets.  I personally play a lot of Danish gambits in blitz via 1. e4 e5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Bc4 and it often transposes into Scotch lines.

The opening is a solid choice for any player, the Scotch Gambit, not the full Scotch, despite Kasparov's old successes.  The book Chess Openings for White Explained, i think is the title, offers the Scotch as a great way to beat the Ruy theory problem.

Yes, Lev Alburt's book (mentioned above) is a good read for Scotch Gambit players.

I use the Scotch Gambit Often and have good success with it - often transposing into the Italian or Two Knights Defence.

Funny you should mention it. I do follow the analysis of Lev Alburt's book. =) However, there are some flaws in his analysis. He did not mention this particular drawish line for example:

I don't think that line is very drawish, lots of play left and White has an advantage in development after 10.0-0 Qxc3 11.Nxc3.

Scarbiac, 10. 0-0 would lead to Qxe4. Still, I agree that the line doesn't lend itself to a draw. Even if white chooses to exchange the queens as opposed to defending or advancing the e4 pawn white will have a lead in development. Black's king is also stuck in the middle of the board, which will likely lead to loss of time for black or possibilities of attack.

GambitAttack, after Qxd5+ Ke8, it's worth playing Qh5+ to either provoke g6 or lure the king back onto e8 so you can capture the bishop with check.

CasualChess, 10. ...Qxe4 would be terrible because of 11. Re1. winning the queen.

If you like the scotch gambit you will probably also like the goring gambit 4 c3 !? dxc3 5 Nxc3 , I play this line some and its also fun to play.

@CasualChess: Uhm, I often blunder in forum posts, but after 10.0-0 Qxe4 White has a nice choice between 11.Re1 and 11.Qxg7 :-)

Interesting idea Karricus, but that could simply transposed back to the drawish line that I proposed after say ...Ke8 Qxc5+ ..Qe7  Qxc3 and then ..Qb4 (the only difference is that the king is on f7 now instead of e8)

The goring gambit is interesting, but I think black can decline it with ..d5 with equality and a good game.

Black shall play:

That is an excellent line. How about this one?

For the line in post #4 doesn't Alburt suggest 9. Qxe7+ Nxe7 10. Nxc3 with a very slight edge for white with the central pawn and black's locked in bishop?

For the line in post #14 doesn't he suggest 6. b4

Book's in the other room and cba checking right now, so lines might be slightly different..

These lines aren't really Scotch Gambits of course, they belong to the Giuoco Piano (Italian) and are usually reached with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ et cetera. Oldest lines in chess, especially the Nc3 Nxe4 line has been analyzed extremely far...

I've had a quick glance at the book for you. First is page 86 (referring to post #4)

Next is the whole of chapter 7 (referring to post #14, my memory was a little out on how you should proceed :) plus I find it easier to remember lines when I'm playing on a board which is how I learn them)

Scarbiac, you're right. I mucked up my analysis somehow. Turn eight should be Qxe4, not turn nine. The presented line is the result of that blunder.

I have never understood this opening, it just transposes to suspicious line of italian game or 4.d4 line in 2 knights defence, so why don't play 3.Bc4?