The Scandinavian Defense

GM Damian Lemos

Lemos Deep Dive #11

Looking for a chess opening for Black against 1.e4 which is solid, does not require an endless
amount of theory to memorize and still offers decent chances to outplay your opponents? Play
the Scandinavian Defense! With clear-cut plans and just a few variations to study, the
Scandinavian seems a good option for all club players who are looking for a shortcut when
studying openings.

The Scandinavian Defense is a tough nut to crack. Thanks to the efforts of GM Sergey Tiviakov
and other strong GMs, the Scandinavian in general, and the 3…Qd6-line in particular, have
attracted more and more attention recently and have found their way back to the tournament
halls.

In this comprehensive 8-hour Deep Dive course, GM Damian Lemos builds up your knowledge of
this powerful opening weapon, demonstrating how to combat each of White's sidelines and
mainlines in turn.

Apart from covering all reasonable setups for White against the Scandinavian Defense, GM Lemos
also shows how these ideas play out in practice through the analysis of instructive recent top-
level games, making sure you’re ready with the most powerful reply!

Now you’ll frustrate 1.e4 players used to playing their pet lines, forcing them to face an opening
they don’t come across that often. The Scandinavian Defense gives you excellent winning chances
due to its positional imbalances and complexities. It is a highly flexible and tricky opening where
Black starts the game with a solid foundation and can then outplay the opponent positionally.

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Summary:

Introduction: About this course

Chapter 1: White’s Early Deviations

Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.d3

Part 2: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3

Chapter 2: Sidelines In The Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4)

Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4
Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4 – Model Game (De Firmian – Granda Zuniga)

Chapter 3: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Early Deviations

Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.g3

Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd3
Part 3: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bc4

Chapter 4: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Sidelines After 5.Nf3

Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.g3/6.Be2/6.Be3
Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.h3

Chapter 5: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Mainline With 5.Nf3 and 6.Ne5

Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Bf4/7.f4
Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4 (1)
Part 3: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 – New Ideas for Black

Part 4: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4 (2)

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Chapter 8: Model Games
Part 1: Naiditsch - Tiviakov (1)

Part 2: Naiditsch - Tiviakov (2)

Part 3: Dominguez - Caruana
Part 4: Grandelius - Xiong

Conclusion

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The Scandinavian Defense: General Concepts

The Scandinavian Defense is a chess opening for Black against 1.e4 which starts with the
moves 1.e4 d5 (see the diagram below).

The opening is named in honor of several Scandinavian chess players who analyzed this
opening in the late 19th century and showed that it’s a decent way for Black to deal with
the move 1.e4.

Playing the Scandinavian Defense can be a vital alternative for all Black players who are
tired of entering the highly theoretical terrain in the Ruy Lopez after 1…e5 or several
sharp Sicilians after 1…c5. The Scandinavian allows the Black player to immediately take
the opponent out of his comfort zone by playing a move which is not as frequently played
as against 1.e4.

Generally speaking, playing 1…d5 is a very natural way of reacting to White’s occupation
of the center with 1.e4. Black does not make the preparatory …c6 or …e6 moves of the
Caro-Kann or French Defense, but immediately goes for 1… d5.

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Black’s main idea in the Scandinavian Defense is that he will rapidly liquidate White’s e4-
pawn and then maintain counterplay due to the active placement of his queen. One of the
best ideas for White is to try to take advantage of Black’s alleged strong queen by
harassing it, developing the White pieces with tempo.

The early development of the Black queen is also one of the reasons why the Scandinavian
Defense is considered to be a somewhat dubious opening by some chess players. They
claim that Black breaks two major opening principles with this opening. Black brings his
queen into the game very early (with 2…Qxd5) and then moves it at least one more time
(2…Qd6 or 2…Qa5 as Black’s main continuations after 2.Nc3).

While it is true that Black loses some time with his early queen maneuver and he is often
slightly behind in development, things are not that simple and Black gets a variety of
advantages by playing the Scandinavian.

The Scandinavian allows Black to get his desired position without anti-Scandinavian
variations (such as against the Open Sicilian, which can be avoided in many ways).
The move 2.exd5 is White’s only try to fight for an advantage. While the move 2.Nc3
(protecting the e4-pawn) is harmless and gives Black at least an equal game, 2.e5 (opting
for an Advance Variation) is already a positional mistake. After 2…c5 (see the diagram
below), Black already has more central control.

In contrast to the Caro-Kann Advance Variation, Black has saved a whole tempo by
playing …c5 in one move and (other than in the French Defense Advance Variation), Black

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can still develop his light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain which is not blocked in
by a pawn on e6 already. Black can, for example, bring his bishop out quickly to f5 and
trade it off against White’s light-squared bishop.

The fact that 2.exd5 is White’s only serious move has some key implications for the
opening. In most other openings, several different pawn structures can be reached.
Scandinavian players, on the contrary, can be sure to reach their desired pawn structure.
White has the half-open e-file and Black has the half-open d-file.

This means that the Scandinavian player can specialize on this pawn structure, allowing
him to get a very deep understanding of the nuances and subtleties of this structure. A
White player, who only gets this structure occasionally, is usually not that familiar with
these tiny little structural details.

Another advantage of playing the Scandinavian Defense for Black is that there are no
extremely sharp variations where Black needs to study a huge amount of theory in order
to survive the first 15 moves. While Black needs to be a bit cautious about his opening
moves (as he is slightly behind in development), he does not get involved in razor-sharp
opening battles.

Finally, there is another interesting argument that White gets a development advantage
against the Scandinavian Defense. It is true that White can develop his queenside knight
from b1 to c3 with tempo, attacking the Black queen. Yet, the knight on c3 is not ideally
placed. White can neither seize space in the center with c2-c4, nor can he stabilize his
center with c2-c3 (which is often necessary as Black creates pressure on the d4-pawn on
the half-open d-file). That said, the knight on c3 often has to move again (as we’ll see in
the course, the maneuver Nc3-e2-f4 is quite common). This, however, allows Black to
catch up in development.

The reason why many Black players refrain from playing the Scandinavian Defense is that
they think White can always get an easy draw and it’s extremely tough to win with Black.
However, this is only half the story.

It is true that White players can aim for calm very solid lines against the Scandinavian
Defense. However, Black can always try to outplay his opponent in the middlegame and
the endgame. Nowadays, White players who only want to draw can achieve a very safe

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and tough to crack position against almost any opening for Black. With the slightly
unbalanced pawn structure, however, there is definitely room for play for both sides.

That said, it’s key to not lose patience as the Black player nowadays, and wait for chances
in the middlegame and endgame. Psychologically speaking, you should be happy to see
that you got easy equality out of the opening with Black instead of worrying about not
having an advantage or a major imbalance in a wild position.

In this course, GM Damian Lemos recommends the variation with 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5
3.Nc3 Qd6 (see the diagram below) for Black. It’s a fashionable move which nowadays is
almost as popular as the classical main move 3…Qa5.

It’s key to know that the queen on d6 is still not entirely safe at such an early stage of the
game with all pieces on the board. The queen on d6 could be especially vulnerable to
some Nc3-b5 ideas, attacking the queen on d6 and the pawn on c7. For this reason, Black
plays …c6 in our mainline on move five. If White plays the move Nc3-b5 earlier, Black has
nothing to fear as White is not fully developed to support the knight with his pieces.

- 4.Nb5 is simply met by 4…Qb6, followed by 5…c6 or 5…a6 and the knight has to
retreat.
- 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nb5 is also met by 4…Qb6 (4…Qd8 5.Bf4 [attacking the pawn on c7]
5…Nd5!, followed by …c6 is even easier) 5.d5!? e6! 6.Be3 Bc5! 7.Bxc5 Qxc5 8.d6 Na6
9.dxc7 0-0 (see the diagram below). Black has a lead in development and soon gets
his pawn back.

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Apart from this general knowledge on the Scandinavian Defense, GM Damian Lemos
suggests you constantly follow the games of strong players in the openings you want to
play. It is a wise decision to regularly check the games of the world’s leading experts or
your favorite players in this opening. You can watch their approaches against different
opening setups and become familiar with the key concepts, latest trends or opening
novelties. It is also key to know the classics in the opening you play.

If you choose to play the Scandinavian Defense today, you’re in the comfortable situation
of being able to choose from several strong players to follow.

Nowadays, the biggest expert in the Scandinavian Defense with 3…Qd6 is probably GM
Sergey Tiviakov, who contributed a lot to the development of this variation. Other strong
players to follow are GM Christian Bauer and GM Alexander Rakhmanov.
White has several setups to choose against the Scandinavian Defense.

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 Chapter 1: White’s Early Deviations
Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.d3

The variation after 1.e4 d5 2.d3 is a rare sideline which allows Black to exchange queens
early on. 2…dxe4 3.dxe4 Qxd1+ 4.Kxd1 (see the diagram below).

We’ve reached an endgame (or a queen-less middlegame) which looks equal at first
glance. However, Black already has a slight pull and an advantage in practical play.

With 4…Nf6, Black attacks the pawn on e4. 5.e5? is not possible for White as Black has
5…Ng4, collecting material, as the pawns on f2 and e5 are en prise.

If White continues with either 5.f3 or 5.Bd3, protecting the pawn on e4, Black plays
5…e5! and White’s light-squared bishop is already restricted.

A key positional theme for Black in the resulting structure is to trade dark-squared
bishops. White usually continues with 6.Be3 (see the diagram below) and then Black can
follow up with …Nbd7 and …Bc5. Once the dark-squared bishops are exchanged, the dark
squares in White’s camp become vulnerable.

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 In essence, Black quickly gets more than equality in this apparently equal looking
endgame if he is familiar with this positional theme and White plays carelessly. An
excellent model game for Black to study in this variation is the game Trussevich –
Burmakin from 2018 which is included in the accompanying database.

Part 2: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3

The variation after 1.e4 d5 2.Nc3 also promises Black a good game where he can hope to
play for more than equality. GM Damian Lemos recommends the space gaining move
2…d4 (see the diagram below) for Black, driving White’s knight away.

After 3.Ne2, Black plays 3…e5! and stabilizes his center. White’s main move is 4.Ng3,
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moving the knight a third time, but making room for the light-squared bishop on f1 to be
developed.

According to GM Lemos, Black should reply with 4…Be6!, developing a piece and
preventing White from moving his light-squared bishop to the active square c4.

Here, White’s main move is 5.Nf3. If White wants to create a quick initiative on the
kingside with 5.d3 Nc6 6.f4, Black gets a positional advantage with 6…exf4! 7.Bxf4 Nf6
(see the diagram below), followed by …Bd6. Black has a firm grip on the e5-square, where
he can place one of his knights. Moreover, the trade of dark-squared bishops clearly
favors Black as the dark squares in White’s camp tend to be very vulnerable. Maneuvers
like …Nf6-g4-e3 are in the air.

The main move 5.Nf3 is simply met by 5…f6, further stabilizing the center. Black can
continue with …c5, …Nc6, …Bd6 and …Nge7 with a space advantage and good prospects
to fight for the full point.

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 Chapter 2: Sidelines In The Scandinavian
Defense
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4

After 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5, White's main move is by far 3.Nc3, attacking the Black queen.
However, White can also start with the logical looking move 4.d4?! (see the diagram
below). White keeps his c-pawn free to advance. The downside of this move, however, is
that Black can counter with 4...e5!, going for an immediate clash in the center.

If White continues with 5.Nc3, attacking the Black queen, Black can play 5...Bb4, pinning
the knight on c3, 6.dxe5 Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Nc6 (see the diagram below).

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Black is temporarily a pawn down, but he gets very active piece play in return and White
has difficulties to keep his extra pawn. The pawn on e5 is currently hanging and quick
developing moves like ...Bg4+ and 0-0-0 are going to follow.

If White continues with 5.dxe5 Qxd1+ 6.Kxd1 Nc6 (see the diagram below), play is very
similar to the variation above.

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White’s extra pawn on e5 is under attack, his king on d1 is misplaced and Black has
speedy development which fully compensates for the temporary pawn sacrifice. Moreover,
Black has ideas to play …f6, going for a full pawn sacrifice. The idea is to open the position
up even more for his pieces. White is well-advised to not capture on f6, as this gives Black
an extreme amount of pressure which White is most likely not able to defend against in a
practical game.

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 Chapter 3: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Early
Deviations
Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.g3

The move 3.Nc3 is by far White’s main move and brings us closer to the mainline. In this
course, GM Damian Lemos recommends the move 3...Qd6 (see the diagram below) for
Black which gained some popularity for the last years, mainly thanks to the efforts of the
Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov.

With 3…Qd6, Black keeps his queen close to the center and stops Bc1-f4. The queen is
slightly at risk on d6, but Black has got rid of White’s center in return.

4.g3 is a rather harmless, but a natural continuation for White to develop his pieces.
According to GM Damian Lemos, Black should continue with 4...Nf6, starting to catch up
in development. 5.Bg2 c6 (see the diagram below).

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The move 5...c6 is a natural move, blocking the h1-a8 diagonal and taking control over
the squares d5 and b5. Black wants to continue with the development of his light-squared
bishop and the natural developing moves ...e6, ...Be7 and ...0-0 with a very solid position. It
should be noted that the problem with the desirable 5...g6!? is that then it’s harder for
Black to develop his light-squared bishop. With a kingside finachetto, the bishop can’t
come to f5, for example, and retreat to g6 or h7 once it gets under fire.

After 5...c6, the game could continue with 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 (see the diagram below).

If White drives the bishop further back with g4, then Black has ...Bg6 and White’s kingside
structure can backfire. Black can, for example, consider playing ...h5, opening the kingside

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 and playing against the weakened White king. Instead of 6...Bg4, Black can also play
6...Bf5 (see the diagram below), followed by ...h6, creating a retreat square for the bishop.

White’s main move 6.d4 does not lead to an advantage either. After 6...Bf5 7.Nge2 e6
8.0-0 Be7 9.h3 0-0 (9...h6 is also an option to keep the bishop) 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nf4 (see
the diagram below), Black has a solid position.

Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd3

The variation after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 (see the diagram below)

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brings us very close to the big mainline after 5.Nf3, but the moves 5.Bd3 and 5.Bc4 need
to be checked first.

5.Bd3 is a harmless line as the bishop not ideally placed on d3. Of course, Black needs to
be careful to not capture on d4, as 5...Qxd4? 6.Bb5+ loses.

5...Nc6, instead, with an attack against d4 and speedy development, is a good move for
Black. 6.Nge2 (6.Nf3?! Bg4 and Black quickly castles queenside with a lot of pressure
against d4) 6...Bg4 7.f3 Bh5 (see the diagram below) with idea to trade light-squared
bishops with ...Bg6. Afterwards, Black can play ...e6 and obtains a solid position.

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Part 3: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bc4

Against 5.Bc4, 5...a6 (see the diagram below) is a good move which was also played by
Tiviakov. It stops Nc3-Nb5 and leaves the c6-square free for the knight.

After 6.Nf3 Bg4, it is hard to get rid of the pin for White. After 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 (if not 8.g4
then Black simply plays ...e6, ...Be7, ...0-0 with an equal game) 8...Bg6 9.Ne5 Nc6! (see the
diagram below) is strong.

Black attacks the pawn on d4 and White can’t capture on c6 with his knight as then his
bishop on c4 and his rook on h1 would be hanging. 10.Nxg6 hxg6 (see the diagram

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below) also gives Black a good game as the backward h3 pawn is weak on the half-open
h-file.

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 Chapter 4: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Sidelines After
5.Nf3
Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.g3/6.Be2/6.Be3

After the main continuation 5.Nf3, GM Damian Lemos recommends the solid 5...c6 (see
the diagram below) for Black.

Now, White needs to play the main move 6.Ne5 to fight for an edge out of the opening.
Otherwise Black gets full equality.

6.g3, the Fianchetto Variation, for example, does not promise White anything. Black
should continue with 6...Bg4 (6...Bf5 is also possible) 7.Bg2 e6 8.h3 Bh5 9.0-0 Nbd7
10.Ne2 (see the diagram below). As noted in the introduction, the move Nc3-e2 is a
typical maneuver for White, regrouping knight to f4 and grabbing the bishop pair.

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Here, GM Damian Lemos recommends the smart move 10...Qc7 which occurred in a game
between Polgar and Kramnik. Black’s idea is to develop the dark-squared bishop to d6
immediately. Black’s position is without any weaknesses. The game continued 11.Nf4
Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Bd6 13.c4 0-0 14.Be3 e5! (see the diagram below) and Black had full
equality.

The calm move 6.Be2 does not pose Black any problems either. Black can follow up with
6...Bf5 (see the diagram below), bringing the light-squared bishop outside the pawn
chain, and then continue with normal developing moves.

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6.Be3 is another option for White, but probably a waste of time. Black again plays 6...Bf5,
eyeing the c2-pawn. After 7.Ne5 Nbd7 8.Nc4 Qc7 9.Qd2 Nb6 10.Bf4 Qd8 (see the
diagram below), Black should not fear if White castles queenside.

After 11.0-0-0 e6 (see the diagram below) ...Bb4 is in the air. Play becomes double-edged
and risky for White.

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Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.h3

Finally, 6.h3 is another try for White to avoid the absolute mainline. Yet, Black’s opening
concept stays the same. He plays 6...Bf5, bringing the light-squared bishop outside the
pawn chain before playing ...e6. The only independent try for White is 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5
(see the diagram below) with the threat to play h3-h4. According to GM Damian Lemos,
Black should play 8...Nbd7, trying to trade the knight on e5.

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9.f4 (9.Nxg6 hxg6 and the h3-pawn is weak, Black can fix it later in the endgame with
...g5 and Black can make use of the f4-square with a maneuver like ...Qc7 and ...Bd6; 9.Bf4
is met by 9...Nxe5 10.dxe5 Qb4!, attacking bishop on f4 and b2 pawn.) 9...e6 (9...Ne4 is
an alternative which requires more testing, but which is interesting to analyze). After
10.Bg2, Black can follow up with ...Qc7 and then capture on e5 (see the diagram below).

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 Chapter 5: The 3.Nc3-Variation – Mainline
With 5.Nf3 and 6.Ne5
Part 1: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Bf4/7.f4

Finally, we reach the mainline with 6.Ne5 (see the diagram below).

The idea of this move is to prepare Bf4 with dangerous threats against Black’s exposed
queen on d6. Black is well-advised to play 6...Nbd7, trying to exchange the White knight
on e5.

After 7.Bf4, Black has the strong resource 7...Nd5! (see the diagram below).

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The knight on d5 attacks the bishop on f4 and the knight on c3. White has no useful
discovered attack with his knight (8.Nxf7? Qe6+! -+) and he can’t avoid further trades.
For example, 8.Bg3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Nxe5 10.Bxe5 Qg6 (see the diagram below) with an
equal game for Black.

Instead of 8.Bg3, White also tried 8.Nxd5 Qxd5 9.Nf3 (White develops his kingside
pieces) Nb6 10.Be2 Bf5 (see the diagram below).

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Now, however, there is a trap which even strong grandmasters have fallen for. The natural
11.0-0?! is met by 11...Qe4! and the pawn on c2 is lost because the bishop on f4 is
hanging.

7.f4 (see the diagram below), cementing the knight on e5, but blocking in the dark-
squared bishop on c1, is another possible try for White.

Here, Black should play 7...Nb6 which stops Bc4. Black’s idea is to follow up with ...g6,
...Bg7 and a future ...c5 break. 8.g4 .

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 (8...Be6 is another interesting option for Black which was played by Tiviakov. The idea is to
bring the light-squared bishop, which is often a problem piece for Black, into the game
early. Black does not worry about exchanging the bishop on d5 against one of White’s
minor pieces.) 8...g6 (Black goes for a kingside fianchetto) 9.Bg2 (9.g5 is simply met by
...Nh5 and White’s kingside expansion is over while Black has control over some key light-
squares on the kingside.) 9...Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 (see the diagram below). Black has ideas to
play Rd8 and ...c5 or ...h5 and ...Ng4.

Part 2: 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nc4

7.Nc4 (see the diagram below) is the absolute main line for White, avoiding the trade of
knights and attacking the queen on d6.

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After 7...Qc7, White has two options – 8.Qf3 and 8.a4.

After 8.Qf3, preparing Bf4, 8...Nb6 9.Bf4 Qd7 (see the diagram below), Black not only
attacks the pawn on d4 but also has the idea to exchange queens with ...Qg4.

10.Nxb6?! axb6 11.Rd1 (11.Be5 Qf5, threatening the c2-pawn and aiming to exchange
queens 12.Qxf5 Bxf5 and Black has at least equality in this endgame and can even play
for more) 12...Qg4 12.Qxg4 Bxg4 (see the diagram below) and Black already has a
slightly better endgame.

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The idea of the move 8.a4 is to leave Black with a cramped position and no space for all
his pieces after a4-a5. White secures the c4 outpost for the knight, stops any ...b5 ideas by
Black and also has the idea of a future a2-a4-a5, gaining space on the queenside. 8...Nb6!
(see the diagram below) is a key move for Black.

The idea is to exchange a pair of knights. Black should avoid the move 8...e6? 9.Bf4! and
the d6-square is in White’s control. Apart from 8...Nb6, the strongest move according to
GM Damian Lemos, is 8...Nd5!? from the game Caruana – Carlsen (Baku 2016) and 8...g6
from the game Radjabov – Nisipeanu (Bazna 2009) are also interesting to analyze and
tend to be decent alternatives.

After 8...Nb6 9.Ne5 (9.a5 Nxc4 10.Bxc4 Bg4, followed by ...e6 and ...Bd6 with good
position for Black) 9...a5, stopping the White queenside expansion, 10.Bf4 Qd8 is super
solid for Black as the knight on b6 stops Bc4, not allowing White to put more pressure on
the Black position. Black can continue with ...g6, ...Bg7, ...0-0 and ...Be6 or ...Bf5 with a
decent position.

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 Chapter 6: Model Games
In order to properly learn a new opening, it is not enough to take a close look at
theoretical lines. You also need to study some classical model games which were played
from the opening you want to play.

Checking complete games has various advantages. First of all, you get a better overall
understanding of the positions arising from your opening. The focus is less on theory than
on general understanding of the resulting middlegame and endgame positions.

As the famous Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan once put it: “Study entire games. Your study
can become disjointed if you just learn an opening set-up. Don’t just study the opening and
early middlegame but instead play the entire game. Don’t just stop when your side has a
good position.”

That said, the Scandinavian Defense is flexible enough to allow you to vary a little from
one game to the next, thus avoiding your opponents’ specific preparation.

It’s important to keep in mind that instead of playing different openings with Black against
1.e4, you can also vary within your opening system. This allows you to become an opening
expert in the one opening you play and at the same time, it’s still tough for your
opponents to prepare against you as they don’t know which line you’ll play in the next
game. You can see the lines GM Damian Lemos presents as a starting point for playing the
Scandinavian Defense and step-by-step add more and more variations to your repertoire.

Also check the most recent games that strong players have played in your opening. In
fashionable openings like the Scandinavian Defense, it’s key to stay up-to-date and to
familiarize yourself with the latest theoretical developments.

In the model game section, for example, GM Damian Lemos analyses a very recent game
which was played between the two strong Grandmasters Grandelius and Xiong from 2017.

Here, we can see additional or new ideas for White like 5.Bg5. White goes for a quick
kingside attack with Qd2 and long castling. 5...g6 6.Qd2 Bg7 7.0-0-0 0-0 8.Bh6 (see the
diagram below).
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According to GM Lemos, Black should react with 8…Bxh6 9.Qxh6 (putting the queen
offside) and then attack the center with 9…Nc6, followed by …Bg4. Black’s pressure stops
White from creating any attack on the kingside.

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