What is the idea of the Scandinavian Defence?

bump, someone explain :D

For black, develop pieces faster

Black has the initiative here. Initiative which is "invisible" is actually one of the strongest component in chess. I lost many games from this position. I guess, the king is under (x-ray?) in that nasty black diagnoal where potentially knight can get pinned. There is the impending check. If white blocks with knight, he loses breathing space as is queen's path is already blocked since the pawn is impeded by the knight. Very tricky position to play if your opponent knows what she is doing. By the way, what I don't get is when the queen falls back to d8 - almost a prophylactic defensive move.

The first consideration to be made is that black actually does not lose two tempi.
White lost 1 tempo to capture the pawn, and black lost 1 tempo to move the queen twice. So it's even in terms of development, and indeed you can see that they both have a single piece developed when it's white's turn

The Nc3 is not best piece in the world, after all. Btw, Anand had some advantage against almighty Kasparov using it in a wch.

To be annoying

To win the d4 pawn once you play d4

Please uh, continue, with the continuation: ;-)

4. Nf3 Nf6
5. d4 c6 (*don’t* play Nc6 for the *real* Scandi!)

I'm interested in your thoughts. Thanks!

The idea in the Scandinavian is that black gives up the control of the center and helps white develop their pieces with tempos, but in return black gains a solid but passive position.