Answers.Body: <p>If you are having trouble with it, maybe you need to slow down the aggression!</p>
  
  <p>My advice is to play 2.e5. It is theoretically a "bad" move because it allows your opponent to play an improved Caro-Kann or French. But at your skill level, nobody who goes for the Scandinavian will know anything about how to play those!</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T13:13:00.630Z
Answers.Text: Nobody at this level will know all too much about the main lines either. But studying (not memorizing!) those will be much more useful in the long run.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Annatar
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T13:15:18.453Z
Answers.Text: @Annatar Actually, I think understanding the position resulting from 1.e4 d5 2.e5 will serve your chess much more in the long term than understanding the Scandinavian main line
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T07:47:17.127Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-08-27T11:59:07.550Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-08-27T11:59:07.550Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.Body: <p>At your elo opponents are not really prepared with theory so you can surprise them with the following gambit lines :)</p>
  <ol>
  <li><p>You can surprise the casual Scandi player with Mieses gambit that goes: 1. e4-d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4 with idea of opening the b-file and using the rook to apply pressure and develop with tempo</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>You can transposition into Reti/Tennison gambit after: 1.e4-d5 2. Nf3 dxe4 3. Ng5 which has very deadly trap if your opponent is not prepared</p>
  </li>
  </ol>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-11T06:44:54.740Z
Answers.Text: What would be the point of doing such a thing when there are several options for White to get an amazing position without giving up on any material?
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-11T01:03:54.077Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-05-11T01:03:54.077Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: viktor ranic
Answers.Body: <p>You are correct to seek an aggressive line since at this stage in your chess development you should be going for the throat.</p>
  
  <p>Here is a suggested line:</p>
  
  <p>1.e4 d5</p>
  
  <p>2.d4 dxe4</p>
  
  <p>3.f3 or Bc4
  [EDIT]  3.Nc3 is most common, then the ideas of f3 or Bc4.</p>
  
  <p>Seeking fast development.  You can target f7...</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T03:33:26.423Z
Answers.Text: 3.f3 e5 is likely to result in an early exchange of queens, which is probably not what white wants. 3.Nc3 is usually played nowadays (knights before bishops).
Answers.UserDisplayName: bof
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T04:41:11.493Z
Answers.Text: Why would you do f3 or Bc4? f3 blocks your knight on the right and doesn't open up any openings for any other pieces. Bc4 feeds your bishop to your opponent's queen.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alexander Micharski
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T07:12:19.107Z
Answers.Text: @bof The "knights before bishops" rule is among the most counterproductive pieces of advice I've ever heard
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T19:03:54.057Z
Answers.Text: @AlexanderMicharski not sure what you mean by feed's the bishop to the queen (which is on d8).  and f3 threatens fxe4...
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ywapom
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T20:05:45.073Z
Answers.Text: @Ywapom The queen can capture the bishop next move and white won't be able to capture the queen succeeding it.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alexander Micharski
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-29T15:09:26.750Z
Answers.Text: @AlexanderMicharski you are not reading the moves.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ywapom
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T21:54:01.493Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-08-28T19:02:12.187Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-08-28T19:02:12.187Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ywapom
Answers.Body: <p>You could play 2.d4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 to transpose into the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-02-25T18:39:14.167Z
Answers.Text: But why give up the advantage Black gave you with 1 ... d5?, and give Black an advantage instead with 2 d4? ?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Rosie F
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-17T02:12:20.653Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-05-17T02:12:20.653Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: James Ko
Answers.Body: <blockquote>
    <p>I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>It's not true that nobody but beginners use the Scandinavian - I use it, and my rating is in the 1700s.  The opening is, however, somewhat rare; I've only seen it about 4% of the time when I've played 1.e4 in tournament games. Some beginners perhaps like this opening because it gets their queen out early. But this is actually a <em>bad</em> thing for Black, not a good thing. </p>
  
  <p>As White, one good idea is to make that queen your target. This game is the fastest I've lost playing the Scandinavian, and I lose when my opponent (rated 2042) traps my queen:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Qa5 4.Be2 Nf6 5.O-O Bf5 6.d4 c6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Nc3 e6 9.Bf4 Be7 10.a3 c5 11.Nb5 O-O 12.dxc5 a6 13.Bc7
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And here's a game where a beginner (rated 535) tries the Scandinavian against me. Notice how, when possible, I attack his queen with moves that also develop my pieces.</p>
  
  <pre><code>[FEN ""]
  1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 {I attack his queen. So far this is the mainline.} Qd4 {This is where we deviate from the mainline Scandinavian. This isn't the best square for his queen.} 4.Nf3 {I attack his queen again.} Qb6 5.Bc4 {I develop another piece. I don't attack his queen with Nd5 or Na4 because that wouldn't help me develop.} Nf6 6.O-O Qd6 {He moves his queen again. His plan is probably to trade off my f3 knight with Bg4 and Bxf3, and then play Ng4 to threaten Qxh2#.} 7.h3 {To prevent his plan. It wouldn't work, but Bg4 is annoying so I prevent it.} Nh5 {Moving his knight again and putting it on the edge of the board. That's usually not a good idea.} 8.Re1 {Activating my rook. It's not the strongest move I could have played. Ng5, attacking f7 and discovering an attack on his knight, was better.} Qg6 {Moving his queen yet again! We're on move 8, and he's moved his queen 5 times. His threat is Bxh3, and I can't play gxh3 because the pawn is pinned by the queen.} 9.Ne5 {Threatening his queen again. He can't play Bxh3 if his queen isn't safe. This also threatens his f7 pawn.} Qg5 {Still threatening Bxh3.} 10.d4 {A discovered attack on his queen. Perhaps I should have just played Bxf7+ now, but this also works.} Nf4 {Blocking the attack on his queen and threatening Qxg2#.} 11.Bxf4 {I have to do something about his checkmate threat.} Qxf4 {Eleven moves in, and his queen is his only piece that isn't on its starting square, while my army is just about fully developed. It's time for me to attack.} 12.Bxf7+ Kd8 13.Bd5 {Threatens Nf7+ forking his king and rook.} Qg5 {Trying to set up Bxh3 again, but it just makes my impending fork worse.} 14.Nf7+ {King-queen fork.} Ke8 15.Nxg5 h6 {From here I have a forced mate.} 16.Qh5+ Kd8 17.Nf7+ Kd7 18.Be6+ Kc6 19.Qc5# 1-0 
  </code></pre>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T07:42:45.377Z
Answers.Text: You are choosing examples where Black is playing awfully bad! Why 3...Qa5 on the first game? It makes no sense! The second game is not about a player using the Scandinavian. He started with the same moves, but is playing nothing like an Scandinavian Defence. He is just randomly moving his queen around
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T09:38:55.120Z
Answers.Text: @David This is in the context of a 400-500 player asking the question. I therefore doubt he's seeing a lot of people playing the best moves. 3...Qa5 was bad, yes; I think I played it because I was anticipating Nc3. You aren't going to see a lot of 13 moves games where Black plays good moves.
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T09:45:48.313Z
Answers.Text: "Bad moves" is one thing and "moves that make no sense" is a very different one. Learning how to counter reasonably-looking moves that are bad for some tactical/strategical reason is a graet way to improve your chess. Analyzing moves that make no sense at all is not!
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T13:08:36.487Z
Answers.Text: 3...Qa5 looks like a typical beginner reasoning of "I expect him to play 3.Nc3 which I answer by Qa5. Oh shoot, he played 3.Nf3 instead. What to do now? Ah well, screw it, I'm just going to play my move anyways! It's not an obvious blunder, so it's fine in this opening, right?".
Answers.UserDisplayName: Annatar
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-28T04:42:59.507Z
Answers.Text: @DM There are grandmasters who played 3...Qa5
Answers.UserDisplayName: Alexander Micharski
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-02-03T17:59:34.297Z
Answers.Text: 3...Qa5 is the main line. The biggest mistakes black makes here are a) playing c5 (weakening a solid pawn structure and creating a hole for the night to move in around the queen) and b) leaving the queen out in the open afterwards.
Answers.UserDisplayName: keithjgrant
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Answers.CreationDate: 2022-02-05T00:55:52.153Z
Answers.Text: @keithjgrant 3...Qa5 doesn't appear to be the mainline after Nf3 (as opposed to after Nc3, when it is.) Yeah, the computer agrees that 10...c5 was a mistake. My opponent had told me in the postmortem after a previous game that a c5 or e5 break was critical for Black, and I knew he was going to play b4 to drive back my queen and make c5 just about impossible for me to play - that's why I thought I had to play it while I could. (Indeed, I'm looking at some databases and in the few games they have from there, Black allowed b4, White played it, and the results heavily favored White.)
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T02:51:16.780Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-08-27T02:51:16.780Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
Body: <p>My chess rating is somewhere between 400 and 500 and I have a lot of trouble countering the Scandinavian Defense. My first move is usually e4 but when my opponent uses the Scandinavian Defense (d5), I have a hard time countering that. I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense. I am curious if you know an aggressive counter to the Scandinavian defense.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-08-26T19:43:21.297Z
Comments.Text: If that's 400 to 500 USCF rating you are a beginner. It is highly unlikely that the opening is your problem. Most likely you'd want to study tactics and learn general principles first.
Comments.UserDisplayName: user1583209
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T07:45:17.657Z
Comments.Text: USCF? Why do Americans have to invent their own system to measure everything?
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T13:29:39.873Z
Comments.Text: @David I don't know if Americans invented their own measuring system for **everything,** but in the case of chess, I think it's because there were no scientific rating systems in existence when Americans invented the first ones, starting with the CCLA and the USCF. The Elo system, devised by USCF member Arpad Elo, was adopted by the USCF around 1960, and by the FIDE some years later.
Comments.UserDisplayName: bof
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-08-27T16:12:00.007Z
Comments.Text: What's so "scientific" about ELO? It's just a bunch of arbitrarely-chosen numbers! Indeed, ELO regulations change every year based on the decisions of a selected group of people. Anyway, many national federations have their own ratings that are now basically meaningless, but Americans for some reason want to keep talking in their own terms!
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-05-18T20:30:26.897Z
Comments.Text: @David because we can.
Comments.UserDisplayName: A_P
Tags: <beginner><aggressive-play><scandinavian-defense>
Title: An aggressive counter for white vs Scandinavian Defense
ThreadText: # An aggressive counter for white vs Scandinavian Defense
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-08-26)
  
  My chess rating is somewhere between 400 and 500 and I have a lot of trouble countering the Scandinavian Defense. My first move is usually e4 but when my opponent uses the Scandinavian Defense (d5), I have a hard time countering that. I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense. I am curious if you know an aggressive counter to the Scandinavian defense.
  
  **Tags:** beginner, aggressive-play, scandinavian-defense
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: If that's 400 to 500 USCF rating you are a beginner. It is highly unlikely that the opening is your problem. Most likely you'd want to study tactics and learn general principles first.  
  > **username_2**: USCF? Why do Americans have to invent their own system to measure everything?  
  > **username_3**: @username_2 I don't know if Americans invented their own measuring system for **everything,** but in the case of chess, I think it's because there were no scientific rating systems in existence when Americans invented the first ones, starting with the CCLA and the USCF. The Elo system, devised by USCF member Arpad Elo, was adopted by the USCF around 1960, and by the FIDE some years later.  
  > **username_2**: What's so "scientific" about ELO? It's just a bunch of arbitrarely-chosen numbers! Indeed, ELO regulations change every year based on the decisions of a selected group of people. Anyway, many national federations have their own ratings that are now basically meaningless, but Americans for some reason want to keep talking in their own terms!  
  > **username_4**: @username_2 because we can.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 5 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_10 on 2019-08-27. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
  
  I heard from everyone that only beginners do it for a reason but I can't exactly figure out why nobody else would use that defense.
  
  It's not true that nobody but beginners use the Scandinavian - I use it, and my rating is in the 1700s.  The opening is, however, somewhat rare; I've only seen it about 4% of the time when I've played 1.e4 in tournament games. Some beginners perhaps like this opening because it gets their queen out early. But this is actually a bad thing for Black, not a good thing. 
  As White, one good idea is to make that queen your target. This game is the fastest I've lost playing the Scandinavian, and I lose when my opponent (rated 2042) traps my queen:
  [FEN ""]
  1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Qa5 4.Be2 Nf6 5.O-O Bf5 6.d4 c6 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Nc3 e6 9.Bf4 Be7 10.a3 c5 11.Nb5 O-O 12.dxc5 a6 13.Bc7
  
  And here's a game where a beginner (rated 535) tries the Scandinavian against me. Notice how, when possible, I attack his queen with moves that also develop my pieces.
  [FEN ""]
  1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 {I attack his queen. So far this is the mainline.} Qd4 {This is where we deviate from the mainline Scandinavian. This isn't the best square for his queen.} 4.Nf3 {I attack his queen again.} Qb6 5.Bc4 {I develop another piece. I don't attack his queen with Nd5 or Na4 because that wouldn't help me develop.} Nf6 6.O-O Qd6 {He moves his queen again. His plan is probably to trade off my f3 knight with Bg4 and Bxf3, and then play Ng4 to threaten Qxh2#.} 7.h3 {To prevent his plan. It wouldn't work, but Bg4 is annoying so I prevent it.} Nh5 {Moving his knight again and putting it on the edge of the board. That's usually not a good idea.} 8.Re1 {Activating my rook. It's not the strongest move I could have played. Ng5, attacking f7 and discovering an attack on his knight, was better.} Qg6 {Moving his queen yet again! We're on move 8, and he's moved his queen 5 times. His threat is Bxh3, and I can't play gxh3 because the pawn is pinned by the queen.} 9.Ne5 {Threatening his queen again. He can't play Bxh3 if his queen isn't safe. This also threatens his f7 pawn.} Qg5 {Still threatening Bxh3.} 10.d4 {A discovered attack on his queen. Perhaps I should have just played Bxf7+ now, but this also works.} Nf4 {Blocking the attack on his queen and threatening Qxg2#.} 11.Bxf4 {I have to do something about his checkmate threat.} Qxf4 {Eleven moves in, and his queen is his only piece that isn't on its starting square, while my army is just about fully developed. It's time for me to attack.} 12.Bxf7+ Kd8 13.Bd5 {Threatens Nf7+ forking his king and rook.} Qg5 {Trying to set up Bxh3 again, but it just makes my impending fork worse.} 14.Nf7+ {King-queen fork.} Ke8 15.Nxg5 h6 {From here I have a forced mate.} 16.Qh5+ Kd8 17.Nf7+ Kd7 18.Be6+ Kc6 19.Qc5# 1-0
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: You are choosing examples where Black is playing awfully bad! Why 3...Qa5 on the first game? It makes no sense! The second game is not about a player using the Scandinavian. He started with the same moves, but is playing nothing like an Scandinavian Defence. He is just randomly moving his queen around  
  > **username_10**: @username_2 This is in the context of a 400-500 player asking the question. I therefore doubt he's seeing a lot of people playing the best moves. 3...Qa5 was bad, yes; I think I played it because I was anticipating Nc3. You aren't going to see a lot of 13 moves games where Black plays good moves.  
  > **username_2**: "Bad moves" is one thing and "moves that make no sense" is a very different one. Learning how to counter reasonably-looking moves that are bad for some tactical/strategical reason is a graet way to improve your chess. Analyzing moves that make no sense at all is not!  
  > **username_5**: 3...Qa5 looks like a typical beginner reasoning of "I expect him to play 3.Nc3 which I answer by Qa5. Oh shoot, he played 3.Nf3 instead. What to do now? Ah well, screw it, I'm just going to play my move anyways! It's not an obvious blunder, so it's fine in this opening, right?".  
  > **username_0**: @DM There are grandmasters who played 3...Qa5  
  > **username_11**: 3...Qa5 is the main line. The biggest mistakes black makes here are a) playing c5 (weakening a solid pawn structure and creating a hole for the night to move in around the queen) and b) leaving the queen out in the open afterwards.  
  > **username_10**: @username_11 3...Qa5 doesn't appear to be the mainline after Nf3 (as opposed to after Nc3, when it is.) Yeah, the computer agrees that 10...c5 was a mistake. My opponent had told me in the postmortem after a previous game that a c5 or e5 break was critical for Black, and I knew he was going to play b4 to drive back my queen and make c5 just about impossible for me to play - that's why I thought I had to play it while I could. (Indeed, I'm looking at some databases and in the few games they have from there, Black allowed b4, White played it, and the results heavily favored White.)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2019-08-27. Score: 3
  
  If you are having trouble with it, maybe you need to slow down the aggression!
  
  My advice is to play 2.e5. It is theoretically a "bad" move because it allows your opponent to play an improved Caro-Kann or French. But at your skill level, nobody who goes for the Scandinavian will know anything about how to play those!
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_5**: Nobody at this level will know all too much about the main lines either. But studying (not memorizing!) those will be much more useful in the long run.  
  > **username_2**: @username_5 Actually, I think understanding the position resulting from 1.e4 d5 2.e5 will serve your chess much more in the long term than understanding the Scandinavian main line  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2021-05-11. Score: 2
  
  At your elo opponents are not really prepared with theory so you can surprise them with the following gambit lines :)
  
  1. You can surprise the casual Scandi player with Mieses gambit that goes: 1. e4-d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. b4 with idea of opening the b-file and using the rook to apply pressure and develop with tempo
  2. You can transposition into Reti/Tennison gambit after: 1.e4-d5 2. Nf3 dxe4 3. Ng5 which has very deadly trap if your opponent is not prepared
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: What would be the point of doing such a thing when there are several options for White to get an amazing position without giving up on any material?  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2019-08-27. Score: 2
  
  You are correct to seek an aggressive line since at this stage in your chess development you should be going for the throat.
  
  Here is a suggested line:
  
  1.e4 d5
  
  2.d4 dxe4
  
  3.f3 or Bc4
  [EDIT] 3.Nc3 is most common, then the ideas of f3 or Bc4.
  
  Seeking fast development. You can target f7...
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: 3.f3 e5 is likely to result in an early exchange of queens, which is probably not what white wants. 3.Nc3 is usually played nowadays (knights before bishops).  
  > **username_0**: Why would you do f3 or Bc4? f3 blocks your knight on the right and doesn't open up any openings for any other pieces. Bc4 feeds your bishop to your opponent's queen.  
  > **username_2**: @username_3 The "knights before bishops" rule is among the most counterproductive pieces of advice I've ever heard  
  > **username_7**: @AlexanderMicharski not sure what you mean by feed's the bishop to the queen (which is on d8).  and f3 threatens fxe4...  
  > **username_0**: @username_7 The queen can capture the bishop next move and white won't be able to capture the queen succeeding it.  
  > **username_7**: @AlexanderMicharski you are not reading the moves.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2021-05-17. Score: 0
  
  You could play 2.d4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 to transpose into the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_9**: But why give up the advantage Black gave you with 1 ... d5?, and give Black an advantage instead with 2 d4? ?  
  
  ---
  
  