Quote:

I think there's also 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bh5 7.g4 Bg6 8.b4, there's hardly anything to be found about this line, but I believe there was a NiC article that recommended this line ages ago.

Very nice. I know a master, Yefim Treger, who plays  1 e4 d5 
2 ed5 Qxd5  3 Nc3 Qa5  4 b4!  and wins a lot of games.  In fact, he defeated a 2170 player with White in this line.
I personally saw him defeat a 2024 player as well. 
The line is highly tactical and positional.  NM Treger regularly plays at the Marshall Chess Club in New York.

But here is another line against the Scandinavian: 

  1 e4 d5 2 g4!   

Transposing to the Zilbermints Gambit in the Grob Attack.

Now after 2...dxe4  3 Nc3! the fun starts. Black is out of the book, and White dictates play.

"(but when was Kasparov ever the second most prepared player at the board?)"
In the first game of his match against Kortsjnoj and several times against Karpov. Finally in his lost match against Kramnik.
I have my doubts on the Mieses Gambit. Keeping the Black Queen's bishop shut in, is that really worth a pawn?

TalJechin's idea looks interesting and a little home cooking with 8 g3 might well be very worthwhile.  Rare and inferior lines can still yield a lot of points if you are well prepared.  Catching your opponents off-guard is always valuable even at relatively high levels.  Witness, for example, Kasparov's success with the Scotch or the Evans.  Neither is strictly inferior, but the surprise value and his being better prepared (but when was Kasparov ever the second most prepared player at the board?) proved that he could outplay opponents with reasonable success...

It's called Mieses Gambit, and is usually considered inferior as after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4 Qxb4 5.Rb1 Qd6 6.d4 Nf6 7.Nf3 a6 Black intends to meet 8.Bc4 with e6 and 8.Bd3 with g6, when white will most likely need to move his whitefielder to a more promising square, wasting time.

But Emms mentions an interesting alternative in 8.g3!? putting the bishop on a good diagonal when black will be reluctant to block it with c6 as that don't look pretty in combination with a6...

So far I've only seen two games with it, but it does look like comp for the pawn to me.

Fullbrook,N - Zuk,R [B01]
Vancouver inv Vancouver (2), 08.1984

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4 Qxb4 5.Rb1 Qd6 6.d4 Nf6 7.Nf3 a6 8.g3 b6 9.Bf4 Qd8 10.Bg2 Bb7 11.d5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.0-0 Nd7 14.Bxc7 Qc5 15.Bf4 Rd8 16.Re1 e6 17.Ng5 Bxg2 18.Kxg2 Qc6+ 19.Kg1 Nf6 20.Qe2 b5 ½-½


Ivanets,S (2261) - Minakov,V [B01]
ch-Kiev Kiev UKR (3), 17.01.2005

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.b4 Qxb4 5.Rb1 Qd6 6.d4 Nf6 7.Nf3 a6 8.g3 b6 9.Bg2 Bb7 10.0-0 e6 11.Ne5 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 Be7 13.Qf3 Ra7 14.Rd1 0-0 15.Bg5 Qd8 16.h4 Nfd7 17.Qg4 Nf6 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Ne4 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Qe7 21.Rb3 Kh8 22.Rbd3 Nc6 23.Rd7 Nxe5 24.Rxe7 Nxg4 25.Rxf7 Kg8 26.Re7 Nh6 27.Rdd7 Nf5 28.Rxe6 Raa8 29.Rxc7 Rae8 30.Rxe8 Rxe8 31.f3 Ne3+ 32.Kf2 Nd5 33.Rc6 a5 34.a3 Rb8 35.c4 Ne7 36.Rc7 Nf5 37.h5 Nd4 38.Nd6 Rd8 39.Ne4 Nc2 40.a4 Rd1 41.c5 bxc5 42.Rxc5 Nb4 43.Rxa5 Ra1 44.Nd6 h6 45.Nf5 Ra2+ 46.Kg1 Nd3 47.Ra7 Ne5 48.f4 Nf3+ 49.Kf1 Rd2 50.Nh4 Nxh4 51.gxh4 Rd4 52.Kf2 Rxf4+ 53.Kg3 Rb4 54.a5 Rb3+ 55.Kg4 Rb4+ 56.Kg3 Rb3+ 57.Kf4 Rb4+ 58.Ke5 Rxh4 59.a6 Rxh5+ 60.Kd6 Ra5 61.Kc6 h5 62.Kb6 Ra2 63.Rc7 Rb2+ 64.Kc6 Kh7 65.a7 Ra2 66.Kb7 Rxa7+ 67.Kxa7 Kh6 68.Kb6 h4 69.Kc5 g5 70.Kd4 Kh5 71.Ke3 Kg4 72.Kf2 Kh3 73.Rc1 Kg4 74.Kg2 Kh5 75.Rc5 Kg4 76.Rc4+ 1-0

Could anybody tell me about this variation of the Center Counter which I find very interesting ? 

Does anybody know if I could find some theory about it on the web ? 

Thanks.