The Stupidest Scandinavian Variation

Introduction

Since it's my 30th birthday today, this post will be a bit more light-hearted. I'll be sharing a few of the stupidest opening ideas I've ever seen Black try against 1.e4. That way, I won't give away any 'secret weapons' before my tournament in 2 weeks from now, but we'll still have a good time and learn a few valuable lessons for our chess along the way.

If my account gets closed as the result of using 'stupid' in the title (despite this being the 10,000th most-used word in my active vocabulary), well, it was nice knowing you all.

Our First Contender

So the question of this post is - what is the silliest way to play against 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3, that has been used to win games at the Grandmaster level?

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/k3dw5aJl

Well, it's not the move 3...Qc6 (played in over 20,000 games in the Lichess Explorer), as 4.Bb5 simply wins the queen, and dirty flagging the opponent in 15-second ultrabullet chess doesn't count.

Thinking Outside The Box

It was in this position that some creative guessers thought, 'you didn't specify whether the variation was for White or Black!'

Could it be that, instead of 3.Nc3, the anti-premove 3.Qg4 (hoping for 3...Qa5 4.Qxc8 mate) is the Stupidest Scandinavian? Well, it only scores a 50% win rate in 15/30 second chess (where most players are playing too fast to take the free queen with 3...Bxg4), so that doesn't count either.

Blunder Or Genius Trap?

A more creative attempt to anti-premove Black is the less ambitious 3.b4, settling for just the win of a queen after 3...Qa5 4.bxa5, as opposed to an immediate checkmate.

The first problem with this is that most opponents are actually premoving 3...Qd8 instead of 3...Qa5, so you'd be better off playing my recommended 3.Nf3 from 'Crush Sub-1800s With 1.e4' against such players.

The second problem is that Black can win the rook with the 3...Qe5 fork. Funnily enough, if White pretends it was all part of the plan and continues with 4.Ne2 Qxa1 5.Nec3, trapping the queen and intending to win it with Ba3, Qc1, Bb2, White is somehow scoring a 53% win rate in the Lichess Opening Explorer.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/zgG1qWlw

Before you get too excited though, even my old fossil by the name of 'Deep Fritz 14' is able to refute White's idea, with 5...a5 and ...e6 to either free the queen or stop the aforementioned Ba3/Qc1/Bb2 plan.

What They Would Have Said In The 60s

As a 30 year old, I'm now officially qualified to make dinosaur-old references that show my age. Time to make the coming generation bemoan (here we go again) with another pre-computer game that the new, shiny version of Stockfsh spits in the face of.

In the early 1960s, if you asked people what the worst line was in the Scandinavian, the answer would be '3...Qd8, because you undevelop a piece. See Fischer-Robatsch'.

Indeed, let's see it, because it's a pretty instructive game for how to refute kingside fianchetto setups:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/0QPpYjdB

For those who want my explanations of the game, in video format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnYHUSrAe6A&t=2s

How They Play 3...Qd8 Today

Nowadays strong players have improved the plan by starting with 4...Nf6, waiting for 5.Nf3 and only then playing 5...g6. Granted, Fischer's plan of castling long, Bh6 and h4-h5 still gives White a considerable advantage, but it's at least not an ironclad refutation compared to the Robatsch game.

Black can also play in 'Bartholomew' style with 5...Bg4, intending 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 c6 and liquidating the light-squared bishop before building a solid pawn structure with ...e6, ...Nbd7 and potentially ...Bb4/...Qa5 for counterplay if White castles long. Unfortunately this line is refuted by the enterprising 8.g4! pawn sacrifice, but it's only been played in 258 Lichess games out of nearly 18,000, so your odds are pretty good that they won't play this way.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/dGhKieMO

The First Published Game Of Chess

By the way, if you do decide to play this ...Bg4 setup, be careful of the move order where the opponent plays a quick Bc4/Nf3 instead of d4.

In the very first published game of chess, between De Castellvi and Vinoles in Valencia 1475, Black fell for White's trap...and White didn't play the trap!

Here's the game...let's see if you can improve on White's play on move 6!

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/QeSdXO0m

Of course, White could have either won a pawn with 6.Bxf7 Kxf7 7.Ne5 and 8.Nxg4, or played 6.Ne5 first, going for a Legall-style mate on f7.

My First Scandinavian Experience

My first experience with the Scandinavian was preparing it for the 2004 Under 12 World Youth Olympiad as a surprise weapon. At the time, I didn't feel anywhere near as comfortable in the Scandinavian compared to my usual Sveshnikov Sicilian, which I had a lot of experience in and had read books on. I was nervous that I would either somehow lose the queen on a5 to some trick, or get kicked all over the place from d6 with moves like Nb5 or Bf4.

So I stuck to the Sveshnikov, only to lose several games against Grandmaster preparation from my opponents, who could refer to my published games for their preparation (while I had no data on what they would do).

An SOS Call

About 1.5 years later, I stumbled upon an article in 'Secrets Of Opening Surprises 4' (SOS 4), where GM Arthur Kogan recommended playing 3...Qd8 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6. However, he didn't recommend the approach of his late friend, the Spanish GM David Garcia Ilundain, with 6.Bc4 Bf5, as 7.Ne5! e6 8.g4 Bg6 9.h4 is unfortunately too fast in targeting the g6-bishop before Black can generate his counterplay.

Therefore, Kogan instead suggested 6...b5!?, with the idea that after 7.Bb3 e6, Black can play a Meran-style setup against 1.e4. First Black develops the kingside with ...Be7 and ...0-0, then completes development with ...Bb7 and ...Nbd7, intending to prepare the freeing ...c5 break with ...b4 or ...a6. I played this way in a few games with good results, although I eventually dropped the ...Qd8 Scandinavian from my repertoire after I broke 2100 FIDE, as I realized such dodgy shortcuts weren't going to cut it against 2100+ rated opposition.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/WxUZ1VT0

For instance, 7.Bd3! is very unpleasant for Black, as the pressure on b5 makes it much harder for Black to get in ...c5 in a good version.

In short, the engines hate 3...Qd8, but it's hardly a stupid system, as Black can play quite systematically, and often gets a quite playable position if White doesn't know exactly how to exploit the subtle defects of Black's move order.

What They Would Have Said In The Early 80s

In the early 1980s, if you had asked the coaches of the Pioneers Palace in Moscow (think 'Soviet School Of Chess') what the worst line of the Scandinavian was, they would tell you '3...Qd6, see Karpov-Lutikov'. (The unsaid, deadpan punch line of the coach is that an undeveloping move like 3...Qd8 is too garbage to qualify as a 'line').

It's a pretty instructive win by Karpov, so let's see it:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/iydbhlqq

Improving On The Classic Game

Although this game looks very convincing, it's not that hard to improve Black's play. Specifically, Black can go for 8...Bf5 9.f3 e5 10.d5 Nd4 (or indeed 8...e5 9.d5 Nd4 immediately), obtaining decent compensation for the pawn in his bishop pair and development.

However, White can also improve his play with 8.d5! Nb4 9.0-0-0, avoiding Black's pawn sacrifice to obtain a clear advantage in similar fashion to the game.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/FccC3L63

Although 5...a6 was the original interpretation of the ...Qd6 Scandinavian at a high level, it's considered unplayable at the top level these days (mainly thanks to 6.g3!), which is why the biggest ...Qd6 specialist, Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, typically prefers the more solid 5...c6.

When A World Champion Trolls

Since we ruled out most of Black's queen moves already (3...Qa5 is the main line, after all), it has to be the insane 3...Qe5, right?

While such a move cannot objectively be good, it's not entirely ridiculous either, and Magnus Carlsen used it to draw a Banter Blitz game against GM Rauf Mamedov back in 2020:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/r1084QxG

Although Carlsen held, the opening was objectively a disaster for him, and the unbiased 11.g4! Bh7 12.Bc4 would have left Black helpless against a coming Nxf7 sacrifice, crashing through on e6 before Black catches up in development.

Trying Another Move Order

This is one reason why, in a high school match in 2010, I played the 6...Bf5 move order instead, intending 7.0-0 e6 and neutralizing Mamedov's Ne5 idea with a quick ...Nd7 and ...Bd6, challenging the White knight.

However, there are two problems with this move order.

The strategic issue is that White can now play 8.Nh4!?, grabbing the bishop pair for a stable long-term advantage after 8...Bg6 9.Nxg6 hxg6 10.g3 Nf6. That said, such positions are not worse than the strongest lines for White in most other variations of the Scandinavian.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/66lJ48tA

The tactical issue is the 8.d5! pawn sacrifice, with the idea that after either 8...cxd5 9.Nb5 and Bf4, or 8...exd5 9.Re1 Be7 10.Nd4! Bg6 11.h4! h6 12.h5 Bh7 13.Bd3, White has too big a lead in development for Black to cope with. (In the latter case, Nf5 will be very unpleasant in a couple of moves).

Don't sleep on 3...Qe5 yet though, because there's a GM who has been playing it tons in recent online prize events...

The Shimanov Scandinavian

In the database, Alex Shimanov has recently been playing 3...Qe5 4.Be2 Bg4 against multiple GMs...and incredibly, even has a small plus score in his games!

He even beat Caruana recently in a rapid tournament with his pet Scandinavian:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/VhtnE8eU

Clearly, a large reason for the success of this variation is the surprise element, but at the same time, White's knight is not ideal on e2. If Black gets time to complete development with ...e6/...c6/...Nbd7/...Be7/...0-0 in some order (in the typical Scandinavian fashion), he will have a rock solid position without the 'problem' light-squared bishop. Perhaps that is why, in the Lichess Opening Explorer, Black is scoring a very healthy 55% out of 4000+ games (not a small sample, to say the least).

Stockfish To The Rescue

Against such dangerous practical weapons as 4...Bg4, real weapons are needed. So, we consult Stockfish - obviously, before the game, not during it.

The first step is to play 8.b4! (instead of Caruana's 8.Ng3), with the idea that Black can't win the pawn because of 8...Qxb4 9.Rb1 Qc4 10.Rxb7, increasing White's lead in development and opening the position at once. (Or, you can play Stockfish's 9.Qd3! and only then Rb1 for a winning advantage).

That's why Shimanov replied with 8...Qh5 instead, but in none of his games did he face my suggestion of 9.f3!. The idea of this is that White is preparing Nf4 to kick away Black's queen, without allowing an exchange of queens with ...Qxd1, which would be a dream come true for Black. (Piece trades typically favour the side with less space).

My Novelty

After 9...Qf5 10.Ng3 Qd7 11.Nce4, White has solved the problem of his offside knights. In the meantime, we will grab more space, such as with 11...e6 12.Nxf6 gxf6 13.c4! - my novelty.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/opbsZVq1

Incidentally, this is why I believe strong players should use the Lichess Opening Explorer when preparing their openings, as the Explorer gives a lot more games as data to determine what you are most likely to face in your games at different levels, as well as the practical data of what positions are easier or tougher for the opponent to play.

If we were relying on Mega Database or some other commercial database, it would show 9.f3 as a novelty, but 9.f3 has in fact been played in 22 games in the Lichess Opening Explorer. And Black scores 2/2 after 11...e6 in the line above, so it's clear that even though the engine is hating on Black's position, practically White can easily mess it up, unless he realizes that we actually want Black to take our b4-pawn, to open up the b-file with Rb1 for a strong White initiative (plus 13...Bxb4 14.Ne4 or Nh5 to attack the weak f6-pawn comes in quite handy).

Recapping

As you can see, we've discovered a lot of new things by exploring the sidelines that most people ignore with a sweeping statement such as 'This is rubbish, I'll figure out the refutation over the board'. But if such lines are very common at your level, you may find that you're leaving a lot of points on the table by not understanding how to punish the common mistakes of your opponents.

However, this is not the end of the post...

While 3...Qe5 4.Be2 Bg4 comes pretty close to winning the title of 'The Stupidest Scandinavian':

- It seemingly wastes a lot of time in the opening (almost like 3...Qa5 two tempi down);
- It's beaten several strong GMs (including Caruana);
- It scores well in the Lichess database, even though it really 'shouldn't'

...There's actually a line that's even more ridiculous, in my opinion.

But first, the honourable mentions...

TWIC Theory

I first learned about 'The Week In Chess' (TWIC) in 2005, and it was very cool at the time to be able to see the high-level Grandmaster games played each week.

At that time, the owner of TWIC, Mark Crowther, was experimenting with a subscription series called 'TWIC Theory', where notable authors would share small PGN file articles of different opening ideas.

The first TWIC Theory was by Andrew Martin, on a Scandinavian surprise weapon favoured by the Ukranian IM Alexander Reprintsev (who beat me in the 2008 Sydney International Open with the Von-Hennig Gambit - a story for another time).

Here's the first game Martin showed in that article, on Reprintsev's 5...Ne4:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/MStzbE5b

Unfortunately, the whole line is pretty garbage - 12.Rb1! is an easy improvement over the game giving a massive advantage, and even after a simple consolidating move such as 10.Bd2, White has a clear advantage due to his massive lead in development.

Honourable Mention Number Two

Another approach to the Scandinavian that's been played a lot more often by Reprintsev is the 3...Qa5 Scandinavian with 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6, which could be a quite effective weapon in online blitz, as Black achieves a 53% win rate in the Lichess Opening Explorer.

One of the main 'tricks' at Black's disposal is that the obvious 6.Bb5 is imprecise due to 6...Ne4!. Reprintsev's most impressive scalp in this line is a blitz win against the former world no.2, GM Alexey Shirov:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/Tq6qNjIT

As you expect by now, there are big objective problems with this line, which leave Black in big trouble if White is well prepared.

The Problems For The Reprintsev Scandinavian

First, even when Black gets his trick in with 6.Bb5 Ne4, White is still clearly better if he keeps his composure and defends the b5-bishop indirectly with 7.Rb1! Nxc3 8.bxc3, sacrificing a pawn for a very strong initiative.

Second, White has a tactical refutation with 6.Bd2, and now a very nice blow after the consistent 6...Bg4:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/k2Sx4YkB

Even if you forgot the beautiful line starting with 7.d5, exploiting Black's inability to properly cover the c7-square, the simple 7.Nb5 Qb6 8.c4, with similar ideas of c5 also gives White a huge advantage.

Anyway, it is time to announce our winner...

The Winner

Although a lot of the Scandinavians we've seen in this post look a bit silly, the most ridiculous one for sure is the 3...Qe6 variation, especially when Black continues with 4.Be2 Qg6, moving the queen a third time in a row to make a one-move attack against the g2-pawn.

And yet, Carlsen played this variation in several blitz games on his favourite chess server, even beating GM Mamedov in one of the games:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/023IoQiA

Naturally, White was much better out of the opening, even though 4.Nge2 is objectively not the most punishing move. If Black didn't play 5...b6, then the g3/Bg2/0-0 setup would make quite good use of the knight's placement on e2.

White Tries To Hold His Pawn

As for 4.Be2 Qg6, in the Lichess Opening Explorer, White most often plays 5.Bf3, defending his g2-pawn. This certainly looks more natural than 5.g3, which looks a bit inconsistent when the bishop is on e2, and then 5...Bf5 would be quite playable for Black.

However, the position after 5.Bf3 Nc6 (or 5...e5 first) is actually quite playable for Black, as White struggles a bit to harmonize his pieces when his bishop is getting in the way of the natural Nf3.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/aY5aVN7D

For instance, 6.d4 Bf5 already leaves White struggling to defend c2, while 6.Nge2 Bf5 also asks some tricky questions. (Carlsen instead played 6...Bg4 and lost to Mamedov, but not because of this move). White has to find 7.Nf4 to have chances to equalize, as the natural (and most common) 7.d3 e5 8.0-0 0-0-0 gives Black better central control and more active pieces for a nice advantage.

That's the good news for Black...

A Pawn, A Pawn, My Kingdom For A Pawn

The refutation of Black's audacious queen running all over the board is to sacrifice the pawn with 5.Nf3!, intending 5...Qxg2 6.Rg1 Qh3 7.d4 with a massive lead in development that indeed should be enough to win the game with perfect play.

At the same time, Black is scoring a crazy 56% after 7...c6 at the 2500+ Lichess level - one of the amusing cases where the lower-rated games give a much better indication of the objective evaluation of the positon.

When looking for high-level games in Lichess, I recognized the name of the veteran Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/NvmPZIkH

Admittedly, a lot of Black's success in this game was due to White wasting two tempi with 8.Nb5. Had GM Guliyev played 8.Ne5 instead, I am fairly confident he would win the game.

Punishing The Pawn Sack

The correct way to punish Black's pawn sacrifice is to play aggressively, using our lead in development to place our pieces on the most active squares possible, and create threats against f7.

The following correspondence game is a model example:

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/tvy79PXg

Avoiding Carlsen's Setup

Although I don't have his blitz games on hand now, I remember that in a couple of games against GM Jorden Van Foreest, Carlsen was going for a setup with 7...Nf6 followed by ...g6/...Bg7/...0-0, trying to protect his king against White's lead in development.

However, with my suggested 8.Rg3! move order, we deprive Black of this option, as his queen comes under fire too quickly from White's pieces (for instance, 8...Qe6 9.Ne5 already threatens Bc4, and 8...Qf5 9.Ne5 e6 similarly fails to 10.Rf3!, and Black's queen has nowhere good to go for tactical reasons).

Conclusion

To conclude, we can see why a lot of online and club players like to play the Scandinavian as Black:

- There's not a lot of theory
- We force White to play 'our' positions
- Black's pieces tend to develop to the same squares
- There are a lot of ways to play it, making it appealing for a wide range of styles

However, if you play the Scandinavian without knowing:

- What setups are the best for Black;
- What move orders are the most effective to avoid White's most unpleasant options;
- How to handle the arising middlegame positions;

...then you're both throwing away games to your opponents with silly mistakes, and leaving wins on the table when you fail to punish your opponent's typical mistakes.

After all, we've seen many times in this post that even Grandmasters were struggling against some of the weakest lines Black can play in the Scandinavian.

The Big Reveal

Believe it or not, the above points are equally true for the strongest lines Black can play in the Scandinavian.

Amateur players are not well prepared for the Scandinavian, because they don't see it very often in their games, and White also has to play quite energetically and precisely to make use of his lead in development. (We already saw some examples of that in this post).

Even at the Grandmaster level, many White players aren't ready for Black's best lines in the Scandinavian, and White often picks the wrong plan in the opening or middlegame.

My invitation to you is to start playing The Strongest Scandinavian, where you'll master the positions much faster than other defences to 1.e4, and start winning plenty of games against your typical opponents in no time with easy to understand opening ideas and middlegame plans.

What Are The Strongest Lines In The Scandinavian?

In my course 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian' (which I just reduced the price of by $50), my main recommendation (and indeed, the objectively strongest line of the Scandinavian) is 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5.

I won't give away everything here, but I'll let you know that I don't recommend the old main line of playing ...Bf5, ...c6 and ...e6. Although the old Scandinavian experts (such as GMs Eric Prie and Curt Hansen) played this system frequently with Black in his career, modern engines have shown are clearly better for White with relatively well-known ideas. The same is true of the ...Bg4 approach my past long-term trainer, Australian GM Ian Rogers, liked to play as Black.

The approach I recommend for Black, the Laznicka Variation, is much more active and critical, and gives White plenty of chances to go wrong relatively early.

Even though I was a chess theoretician since 2012, it wasn't until 2014, when Scandinavian specialist GM David Smerdon showed the Australian Olympiad team this Laznicka Variation, that I became aware of this weapon and its practical strength. I later used it myself to get advantageous positions against GMs Le Quang Liem, Bassem Amin and Vladislav Kovalev in online blitz.

Other Strong Scandinavian Lines

Speaking of Smerdon, I also cover the Portuguese Scandinavian in the course, with 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Bg4, as a secondary recommendation for those looking for active gambit play and good chances to fight for the initiative. It's also one of the very best-scoring defences against 1.e4 in the Lichess Opening Explorer, with a 52% win rate.

https://lichess.org/study/qIhvSXMv/aBfZgWF2

'Play The Strongest Scandinavian' will have you ready to play this variation within an hour, with the key ideas and traps at hand to punish your opponent's most common mistakes.

Of course, we have to admit that the Portuguese Scandinavian is objectively unsound, and that if White plays like a computer, he gets a big advantage with his extra pawn. However, I've played the Portuguese in 29 blitz games (most of my opponents avoided it with the harmless 3.Nc3), and in those 29 games, only one of those opponents played the 'refutation'. (I won the game anyway). So I like your odds :)

Ready To Start Winning With The Scandinavian?

Get my course 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian' at a discount price today via. this link.

See you on the inside!