Beating The Scandinavian Defense – Beginner Chess OpeningsThe Scandinavian Defense is a common beginner chess opening, allowing black to immediately challenge white’s center and activate his queen. However, I believe white is able to generate very dangerous threats very early in the opening if he plays very actively and with a clear plan. In this article I will be examining the main line of the Scandinavian Defense with 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5. There are other principal continuations that black can employ, however the ideas presented in this article should overlap and transpose very well with different move orders by black.
Ilya Smirin plays the opening very well in the below example, immediately putting pressure on black with 7. g4!?, 8. Ne5, and 10. h4!?. Facing such aggressive play in the opening, black responds indecisively and obtains a nearly lost position after only 14 moves. Smirin’s play in this game is a perfect example of how to destroy the Scandinavian Defense with active play and rapid threats. After 14. d5!, white rips open the center by taking advantage of black’s exposed Qa5. Black attempts to hold on, however after 19. Bh3+ and 20. Nd5! white wins a decisive amount of material and the game.
Ilya Smirin Bolat Asanov
1991 Beijing
In the below example, Judit Polgar perfectly demonstrates how to crack the Scandinavian Defense. As opposed to the above game with Ilya Smirin, Polgar’s opponent does not retreat the bishop to h5 but rather exchanges the potentially dangerous white knight with 6. …Bxf3. Polgar develops with a straightforward plan, calmly placing pressure on black’s queen with 8. Bd2 and immediately castling queenside to begin attacking operations in the center and kingside. Polgar’s plan works excellently, as she is able to instantly overwhelm black with 10. g4!? and 11. h4! – accurately taking advantage of black’s lack of development due to so many queen moves early in the opening. After 15. g6, black is strategically lost and Polgar proceeds to finish the game with a precise attack.
Judit Polgar C De Needleman
1990 Novi
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