Scandinavian Defense

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Scandinavian Defense

Moves

1.e4 d5

ECO

B01

Origin

the fictional Castellvi - Vinyoles, Valencia 1475

Named after

Scandinavia

Parent

King's Pawn Game

Synonym(s)

Center Counter Defense

Chessgames.com opening explorer

The Scandinavian Defense or Center Counter Defense, is a chess opening characterized by the moves

1. e4 d5

The Center Counter Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings, first recorded as being played between Francesco di Castellvi and Narciso Vinyoles in Valencia in 1475, and being mentioned by Lucena in 1497. It is one of the oldest asymmetric defenses to 1.e4, along with the French Defence.

Analysis by Scandinavian masters including Collijn showed it is playable for Black. Although the Center Counter Defense has never enjoyed widespread popularity among top-flight chess players, Jacques Mieses frequently played it and greatly developed its theory around the turn of the 20th century. Bent Larsen played it from time to time, and defeated World Champion Anatoly Karpov with it at Montreal 1979, spurring a rise in popularity. Starting in the 1960s, David Bronstein and Nona Gaprindashvili would play it occasionally, and Ian Rogers has adopted it frequently starting in the 1980s. In 1995, the Center Counter Defense made a rare appearance in a World Chess Championship match. Viswanathan Anand as Black obtained an excellent position using the opening against Garry Kasparov, although Kasparov won the game.

It is classified under the B01 code in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.

1 Main variations
2 Depiction in cinema
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Main variations

White normally continues 2.exd5 when Black has two major continuations: 2...Qxd5 and 2...Nf6 (Marshall Gambit).

[edit] 2...Qxd5

After 2...Qxd5 White normally attacks the queen with gain of tempo with 3.Nc3, when 3...Qa5 is considered the main line. Less common alternatives include the retreat 3...Qd8, 3...Qe5+!? (the Patzer Variation, which has recently attracted some interest), and 3...Qd6, the Bronstein Variation or Pytel Variation. Once considered a rare sideline, the Bronstein Variation became quite popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and has been played on numerous occasions by Grandmasters Sergei Tiviakov and Bojan Kurajica, among others.

One other possibility is the rare 3...Qe6+ (the Mieses-Kotroc Variation), one idea being that after the natural developing move 4.Be2 (covering the check), Black plays 4...Qg6 attacking the g2 pawn. Generally regarded as highly dubious, this line was played by David Letterman as Black in a televised game against Garry Kasparov,^[1] in which Letterman was checkmated in 23 moves.

Returning to the main line, a typical continuation after 2...Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 might be 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 (or 5...Bf5) 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.Ne5, after which White often fianchettos his bishop on g2. In general, many lines in the 3...Qa5 variation lead to positions reminiscent of the Caro-Kann Defence.

Alternatives to 3.Nc3 are rarely seen, but playable. Among them is 3.d4, which can transpose into a variation of the Nimzovich Defense after 3...Nc6, or Black can play 3...e5, as well.

[edit] 2...Nf6

The other main branch of the Scandinavian Defense is 2...Nf6, sometimes known as the Marshall Gambit after U.S. Chess Champion Frank Marshall, who played the line^[2]. The idea is to delay capturing the d5 pawn for another move, avoiding the loss of time that Black incurs in the ...Qxd5 lines after 3. Nc3. Now White has several possibilities:

The Modern Variation is 3. d4. Grandmaster John Emms calls this the main line of the 2...Nf6 variations, saying that "3 d4 is the common choice for White...and it is easy to see why it is so popular."^[3]The idea behind the Modern Variation is to give back the pawn in order to achieve quick development. 3...Nxd5 is the most obvious reply. Black wins back the pawn, but White can gain some time by attacking the Knight. White usually responds 4. c4 (although 4. Nf3 is a popular alternative). Now the Knight must move. The most common choices are 4...Nb6, named by Ron Harman and Shaun Taulbut as the most active option^[4], and 4...Nf6, which Emms calls "slightly unusual, but certainly possible."^[5] A third alternative is the tricky Kiel Variation (4...Nb4?!), described by Harman and Taulbut as "a speculative try"^[6]. Black is hoping for 5. Qa4+ N8c6 6. d5? b5!, and Black has a good game. However, White has many alternatives that lead to a large advantage, and the Kiel Variation is seldom seen in practice.

An alternative to 3...Nxd5 is 3...Bg4!?, the sharp Portuguese Variation or Jadoul Variation. In this line, Black gives up the d-pawn in order to achieve rapid development and piece activity; the resulting play is often similar to the Icelandic Gambit. The normal continuation is 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. c4. Occasionally seen is 3...g6, the Richter Variation, which was played on occasion by Karl Richter in the 1930s.^[7]

Another common response is 3. c4, with which White attempts to retain the extra pawn, at the cost of the inactivity of the light-square bishop. Now Black can play 3...c6, which is the most common move. The line 4. dxc6? Nxc6, described by Emms as "a miserly pawn grab",^[8] gives Black too much central control and development. Most common after 3...c6 is 4. d4 cxd5, transposing to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack of the Caro-Kann Defence. 3...e6!? is the sharp Icelandic Gambit or Palme Gambit, invented by Icelandic Masters who looked for an alternative to the more common 3...c6. Black sacrifices a pawn to achieve rapid development. The most critical line in this double-edged variation is thought to be 4. dxe6 Bxe6 5. Nf3.^[9]

A third major alternative is 3. Bb5+. The most popular reply is 3...Bd7, though the rarer 3...Nbd7 is gaining attention. After 3. Bb5+ Bd7, White has several options. The most obvious is 4. Bxd7+, after which White can play to keep the extra pawn with 4...Qxd7 5. c4. The historical main line is 4. Bc4, which can lead to very sharp play after 4...Bg4 5. f3 Bf5 6. Nc3, or 4...b5 5. Bb3 a5. Finally, 4. Be2 has recently become more popular, attempting to exploit the misplaced Bishop on d7 after 4...Nxd5.

3. Nf3 is a flexible move that, depending on Black's reply, can transpose into lines with ...Nxd5 or ...Qxd5.

3. Nc3 transposes into a line of the Alekhine's Defence, normally seen after 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5, and generally thought to be equal.^[10] After 3...Nxd5 4. Bc4, the most common reply is 4...Nb6, although 4...Nxc3, 4...c6, and 4...e6 are also viable continuations.

[edit] Alternatives to 2. exd5

There are several ways for White to avoid the main lines of the Scandinavian Defense. One option is to defer or avoid the exchange of e-pawn for d-pawn. This is most often done by 2. Nc3, which transposes into the Dunst Opening after 2...d4 or 2...dxe4. If instead 2. e5?! is played, Black can transpose into a French Defence with 2...e6. More ambitious, however, is 2...c5 or 2...Bf5; either move leads to play similar to an Advance Variation of the Caro-Kann, but with an extra tempo for Black, who can play ...c7-c5 in a single move, with a comfortable position.^[11] Other moves, such as 2. d3, are extremely rare.

White can also gambit the e-pawn, most frequently by 2. d4, transposing into the popular Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. Other lines are possible, but are seldom seen, and generally considered highly dubious; among these are 2. Nf3?! (Tennison's Gambit), 2. g4?! (the Zilbermints Gambit), and 2. d3 dxe4 3. Nc3.

In general, none of these sidelines are believed to offer White more than equality, and the overwhelming majority of masters opt for 2.exd5 when facing the Scandinavian.^[12]^[13] The Scandinavian is thus arguably Black's most "forcing" defense to 1.e4, restricting White to a relatively small number of options. This has helped to make the Scandinavian Defense fairly popular among club-level players, though defenses like the Sicilian Defence are far more common at the Grandmaster level.

[edit] Depiction in cinema

The Center Counter Defense is Ron Weasley's opening move in the 2001 film of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In the scene in question, Ron (along with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger) have to play a chess game on a giant chessboard with giant chess pieces (it is one of a series of tests that one must pass in order to get to the Philosopher's Stone). Ron uses this defense to verify that the game they are playing is, in fact, exactly like Wizard's Chess (in which chess pieces are enchanted and can smash each other).

The chess positions used in the scene were created by International Master Jeremy Silman, though it is unclear if Silman was responsible for the choice of opening.^[14]