1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5
The Scandinavian Defense is Black’s most direct answer to 1. e4: the move 1... d5 challenges White’s e-pawn on the very first move. After the near-universal 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5, Black reaches the main line, parking the queen on a5 where it sits safely while the rest of the army develops. Unlike the Sicilian or the French, the Scandinavian forces the structure Black wants by move two — White cannot dodge the fight over d5, so you reach your positions in almost every game.
The defining sequence is 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5. White takes on d5 because everything else concedes the center, Black recaptures with the queen, and when 3. Nc3 attacks it, the queen slides to a5 — the classical Mieses–Kotrč treatment, more active than the retreats 3... Qd6 or 3... Qd8. From there Black’s setup is remarkably consistent: ...Nf6, the light-squared bishop out to f5 or g4 before it gets locked in, then ...e6 or ...c6 to solidify. The queen often re-routes later via ...Qb6 to hit b2 and d4, or ...Qh5 to pile on a pinned f3-knight. In many lines Black castles long and plays against White’s center directly.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Bd2 e6
The classical tabiya: White builds the full center with d4 and develops naturally, while Black gets the bishop to f5 before closing the diagonal with ...e6. Black’s play revolves around pressure on d4 and the queenside — ...Bb4 pinning the c3-knight, ...Qb6 hitting b2, and ...Nc6 or ...O-O-O depending on White’s setup. White’s Bd2 sets up the discovered-attack tricks against the a5-queen, so Black must time the queen’s re-routing carefully.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bf5 6. Bd2 e6 7. Ne4 Qb6 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 9. c3 Qxb2
White’s 7. Ne4 unleashes the d2-bishop against the a5-queen, and 7... Qb6 is the cold-blooded answer: the queen steps off the diagonal and attacks b2 and d4 at once. After 8. Nxf6+ gxf6 Black’s doubled f-pawns buy an open g-file and a grip on e5, and 9... Qxb2 grabs a real pawn. The key point: if White tries to trap the queen with 10. Rb1, then 10... Qxb1 11. Qxb1 Bxb1 wins material, because the f5-bishop has covered b1 ever since c2 was vacated.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bd2 Bg4 6. f3 Bd7 7. Bc4 Qb6
White develops the bishop to d2 immediately, lining up Nd5 and Ne4 discoveries against the a5-queen before doing anything else. Black answers 5... Bg4, provoking 6. f3 — a concession that weakens White’s kingside and blocks the g1-knight’s best square — then calmly retreats to d7. From there ...Qb6 hits b2 and d4 simultaneously; with the d2-bishop blocking the white queen’s defense of d4, careless play can simply drop a central pawn.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. d3 Bg4 6. Nf3 e6 7. Bd2 Qh5
White skips d4 and plays a restrained setup with Bc4 and d3, keeping the center modest and aiming at f7. Black equalizes comfortably: 5... Bg4 harasses the white queen, and after 6. Nf3 the bishop pins the knight. With 7... Qh5 Black piles onto the pin — every trade on f3 damages White’s kingside, and the half-measure d3 means White has no central pressure to show for it.
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. d3 Bg4 7. Bd2 Qh5 8. h3 Nd4
White develops the kingside first, and Black responds with maximum piece activity: ...Nc6, the pin with ...Bg4, and the queen swing to h5. The jump 8... Nd4 is the point — it ignores the attack on the g4-bishop because grabbing it only accelerates Black’s assault on f3, where every capture rips open White’s kingside. Black plays for direct threats here, not slow equality.
Facing the Scandinavian with White, the first rule is to take: 2. exd5 is the principled move, since avoiding the capture with 2. e5 or 2. Nc3 hands Black easy, comfortable play. After 2... Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5, your trump is time — Black’s queen came out on move two, and every developing move that gains a tempo against it is pure profit. The standard plan is 4. d4 with Nf3, claiming the full center Black conceded, then Bd2 lining up discovered attacks: knight jumps to e4 or d5 hit the f6-knight or the a5-queen while the bishop attacks through. Black must answer these precisely, and many Scandinavian players below master level do not. Two warnings keep you out of the opening’s best-known pitfalls. First, watch the b2-pawn: when Black’s queen lands on b6, b2 and d4 are often attacked at once, and grabbing material or developing on autopilot can drop a pawn. Second, never try to trap a queen on b2 with Rb1 while Black’s bishop sits on f5 — once c2 is vacated, the bishop covers b1 and the "trap" loses material. Against the ...Bg4 pin, h3 and Be2 untangle without weakening; avoid reflexive f3, which blocks your own knight. If you keep the center, develop with tempo, and decline the tactical invitations, your space advantage carries into a pleasant middlegame.
Occupy the center with d4, develop with tempo against the early queen, and use Bd2 to set up discovered attacks with Ne4 or Nd5. Meet the ...Bg4 pin with h3 and Be2 rather than weakening moves, castle short, and keep b2 and d4 defended when the queen swings to b6. The long-term asset is space — restrain Black’s ...c5 and ...e5 breaks and improve slowly.
Get the light-squared bishop to f5 or g4 before playing ...e6, develop ...Nf6 and often ...Nc6, and keep the queen flexible: a5 first, then b6 to attack b2 and d4, or h5 against a pinned f3-knight. Castle long in the sharper lines and pressure d4 down the half-open d-file. The structure is solid — your job is to develop with concrete threats so White never settles into the space advantage.
The Scandinavian is arguably the oldest recorded chess opening: the earliest surviving game of modern chess, played in Valencia around 1475, opened 1. e4 d5. The opening got its modern name from analysis published by Scandinavian masters in the late nineteenth century, and the main line with 3... Qa5 is known as the Mieses–Kotrč Variation after its early advocates, among them the German master Jacques Mieses. The defense spent much of the twentieth century as an offbeat choice, but Bent Larsen scored a famous win over world champion Anatoly Karpov with it, and Viswanathan Anand used it against Garry Kasparov in their 1995 world championship match. Today it is a favorite practical weapon at club level: a forcing, low-theory defense that drags 1. e4 players out of their preparation on move one.
Let's play the Scandinavian Defense.
Let's learn the Scandinavian Defense! There's no dilly-dallying on this one. After White plays e4 we force the issue immediately with pawn to d5.
And now for the fun part! We recapture with the queen, placing her in the middle of the board. Queen to d5.
Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. With our queen in the middle board, she is an easy target. Let's bring her to safety with queen to a5.
Let's develop our knight to f6.
This is a common way to play for White. In this position I recommend knight to c6.
Now that White's light-square bishop is trapped in, we can set up a nasty pin on White's queen with bishop to g4.
Now we can swing our queen around to h5, adding more pressure on White's knight.
Remember! White's pawn is not actually attacking our bishop because its pinned against their rook. We can actually add even more pressure to White's knight with knight to d4.
Well done! We are absolutely crushing White's position and its not clear how they'll get out of this. The computer puts us at a +3 point advantage simply because of how dominant our position is.
While White prepares to attack our queen again, let's take a moment and develop some pieces. Knight to f6.
We did the knight, now we do the bishop! Bishop to f5.
White is setting up a discovered attack but we honestly do not need to be worried about it. Let's continue with our plan to develop. We want to develop the dark-square bishop but it is currently blocked in. Let's open it up with pawn to e6.
This looks scary but its not. We just move the queen to b6. We're actually setting up an attack on White's pawns on b2.
Nothing else to do here but capture back with pawn to f6.
White forgot their pawn was hanging on b2. Now we gobble up! Queen to b2.
Beautiful, White's position is collapsing. In the future we want to continue developing and castle.
Aaaaand thats a blunder. Let's take on b1 with our queen.
And capture back on b1 with out bishop.
Great! We are up a full rook and the game is ours.
Now that our queen is being targeted, it's a great time to develop our black bishop and defend her with bishop to b4.
White doesn't like our bishop here. Fine. Bishop takes knight on c3.
Now we can slide our queen back to b6.
Now let's lay a trap. Instead of castling kingside, we will develop our knight to c6 and prepare to castle queenside.
They fell for our trap! Now we can castle queenside, pinning the pawn to it's queen. Muahahaha.
We are winning that pawn, and more often than not, winning the game. The computer loves our position here.
Since White has not developed their other knight yet, we can actually set up a direct attack on White's queen with bishop g4.
Now that white has damaged their pawn structure and stunted their own development, we can move our bishop back to d7.
Now we have a fork! Let's play queen to b6, forking the d4 and b2 pawns.
Now our queen gets to eat! Queen takes d4.
Well done! We are up a pawn and the computer loves our position.
Yes. It is one of the easiest defenses to 1. e4 to learn because Black forces the structure on move one and plays the same development scheme — ...Qa5, ...Nf6, bishop to f5 or g4 — in nearly every game. Study time goes into plans and tactics instead of memorizing branching theory.
White does gain a tempo with 3. Nc3, but on a5 the queen is hard to attack again and pins the c3-knight against e1 in some lines. Black accepts one lost tempo in exchange for trading off White’s strong e-pawn and getting a clear, solid setup — a trade-off sound enough that the opening has appeared in world championship play.
2. exd5 is overwhelmingly the main move because the alternatives concede the center. After 2. e5 Black gets a favorable French-style structure with the light-squared bishop still free, and after 2. Nc3 Black can simply capture on e4 or push 2... d4, gaining space with tempo.
Yes. It gives White a small space edge with best play, like most defenses, but it is fully sound: Viswanathan Anand played it against Garry Kasparov in their 1995 world championship match, and Bent Larsen famously beat Anatoly Karpov with it. At club level its forcing nature is a genuine practical advantage.
Both aim for the same strike at e4 with ...d5 and both develop the light-squared bishop before locking it in. The Caro-Kann prepares the break with 1... c6 first, keeping the queen at home; the Scandinavian plays ...d5 immediately and accepts the early queen sortie in exchange for forcing the issue on move one with less theory to learn.
Reading about an opening is step one. The trainer at the top of this page drills all 25 lines against the moves real opponents play — the first lines are free.
Train the Scandinavian Defense now