Stockfish dislikes Scandinavian

Hi guys,

Every time that I play the Scandinavian the computer analysis says:

- Inaccuracy. Best move was e6.

Is it really an inaccuracy? Is it the Scandinavian an old-fashioned opening?

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

Regards,

It is a slight inaccuracy yes, because it loses time in the opening, and you will have a structure with less space (however solid).

Here are my two most common openings:
(B02 alekhine defense - scandi var)
(B03 alekhine defense - exch var)

And the scandi B02 is my highest win rate in all time controls (59% classical).

And it disappoints me, cuz I'm after that perfect 000, 10 CPL game. And that will never occur if you play the alekhine (1.e4 Nf6...inaccuracy!) You screw up on the first move.

You know something I just realized after looking at 10 of my B02/B03 games. All of them are identical 1.e4 Nf6, but one of my games it says the Nf6 is an inaccuracy, but isn't considered a bad move on all the other games. Maybe it's because the stockfish engine was changed, or something? See below

classified as inaccuracy


not classified as inaccuracy


If you look at lichess opening explorer and choose lichess classical, 1...Nf6 scores highest with 51%. If you look at fritz15 megabase, 1...e5 scores highest. Also the chessbase cloud says 1...e5 is best with 44 depth.

The 2nd game above with 2.Nc3 sometimes is considered an inaccuracy, but I see nothing wrong with it. Engine wants you to push 2.e5. Also, it's kind of weird if you compare the normal scandi vs the alekhine scandi, the alekhine scandi (3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Nxd5 Qxd5) looks identical to normal scandi but with 2 minor pieces taken off. Yet sometimes the B02 isn't considered inaccurate at all. Because the Queen on d5 can't be kicked away for a long while.

raulmercadox & Raiden,

Please don't stop playing your favourite openings just because Stockfish has a slight problem with them! I play the Kings Gambit and according the engines my second move is an inaccuracy. But I win a lot of games with it, as I'm sure you both do with your 'sub-par' openings, so who gives a sh....

Unless you're opponents know the 44 move deep line which refutes the opening to gain the 0.5 advantage, it's not gonna make any difference at all.

Nobody knows anything about openings, and Stockfish is weak at it.
Fischer considered 1...d5 weak, but Carlsen played it recently. On the other hand Fischer played the Alekhine defence 1...Nf6 to a record of 3 wins, 3 draws and not a single loss. If tomorrow some top player picks up Alekhine defence again it will flourish again.
Variations are transient. It is like fashion.

It seems strange to see the Scandinavian and the Alekhine labelled as "inaccuracies". We all learnt that they are regular chess openings.
Imagine the reaction of Stockfish to the Grob (1.g4) , the Durkin (1.Na3) or the Fred Defense (1.e4 f5)...
Play what you wish and forget the engines for a while.

Don't be engine slaves dudes, I have won over 70% of almost 500 kings gambit classical games between accounts using this 'inaccurate' opening. The scandi the comp does not like because of the loss of tempo, but you get a nice solid position and you will be more familiar with the usual positions that arise than your opponent, something computers do not take into account.

I have always thought that engines are to chess what motorcycles to bicycles, the fact that there are motorcycles doesn't stop people from using their legs. Also how bad is a move probably has to do with how good is your rival at exploiting it, if your rival is stockfish, well, you're pretty much lost with almost anything you play.

After 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 one of the most played moves is 2...g6 and it is also labled by Stockfish as inaccurate!

So please realize that the Stockfish engine is tuned to get maximum results against other chess engines and not so much to represent the 100% truth in evaluation.

In the Crazyhouse variant , after 1.e4 , the response 1...e5 is marked as a mistake!! This move is (of course) played by all players , from 1300 to 2800.