Fantastic reply and fantastic articles, GM Prie.

I find that the Qb2 option after d5 is not marvellously well covered in Khalifman's work. He seemed to run out of space after a far too long chapter on the Caro Kann... It would have been much more sensible to cover 3.e5 a la kotronias, btw....

Emms suggests it in his work and it is not a line that is entirely clear. (The Qb2 line)

Regarding the position after 11.Be4, white's chances do not look that extraordinary to me, but I have yet to try it (I played 11.Bb7 and my opponent chose the draw. He was following your articles and I working out moves!)

Thanks for teaching...

GMEricPrie wrote on 02/06/06 at 17:25:40:


yes I know, another usless thread!

Well I recently had to admit to myself that my Scandinavian 3..Qd6 is finally busted/refuted.   I had that variation cited by Khalifman played on me  twice making me choose my default line of  
 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Be6 7.Bf4 g6   etc...etc... what happened next was 8.Qf3! Qd8 9.0–0–0 Bg7 with stuff like 10.h4 soon  followed.  


  The chess gods know that I milked that cow for all its worth and was a big fan of the variation.    

I was thinking I could play the main line Scandinavian but I’m of the opinion lately that the 3…Qa5 main line is under serious fire also.


The computer is killing these obscure openings!   


 

 

Actually I did see the last update and I have also read your Chessbase magazine article. However I feel that the play by white in those examples wasn't so strong. In a correspondence game of mine I lost quite horribly against a nice plan that was directed towards weakening my kingside pawns (maybe that's just me being overly depressed about this game I lost, but as you say yourself, only white can really push for more than a draw):
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.Bd2 e6 8.Nd5 Qd8 9.Nxf6+ Qxf6 10.Qe2 Nd7 11.0-0-0 Bg4 12.d5 Bxf3 13.gxf3 cxd5 14.Bxd5 0-0-0 15.Be4 Qe5 16.Bc3 Qc7 17.h4 f6 18.Rhg1 Nc5 19.Rxd8+ Qxd8 20.Qc4 Qc7 21.Bd4 e5 22.Be3 Nxe4 23.Qxe4 Kb8 24.f4 Bd6 25.fxe5 Bxe5 26.Kb1 Qd7 27.h5 h6 28.Qd3 Qf7 29.Qg6 Qxg6 30.Rxg6 Rd8 31.c3 Rd7 32.Kc2 Bd6 33.a4 Kc7 34.b4 b6 35.b5 Kb7 36.c4 a5 37.Rg4 Bb4 38.Re4 Ka7 39.Re6 Bd6 40.Kd3 Bc5+ 41.Ke4 Bxe3 42.fxe3 Rc7 43.Rc6 Re7+ 44.Kd5 f5 45.Kd6 Rxe3 46.Rc7+ Kb8 47.Rxg7 Re4 48.Rh7 1-0

While I admit to having once been a Königsspringerzurückhaltungspolitik adept after reading the Wahls book (and as a result starting to play the Scandinavian), I have seen the error of my ways, particularly due to the variation 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Bc4 Bf5 6.Bd2 e6 7.d5! (of course you can also end up in it with the extra moves Nf6 + Qe2, but you have more options to avoid it with an early Nf6). Since discovering this variation I've been playing it as white and have scored wonderfully with it, e.g. in the following game:
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 c6 5.Bc4 Nf6 6.Bd2 Bf5 7.Qe2 e6 8.d5 cxd5 9.Nxd5 Qd8 10.Nxf6+ Qxf6 11.0-0-0 Nc6 12.g4 Bg6 13.Bc3 Qf4+ 14.Kb1 h5 15.g5 Be4 16.f3 Bf5 17.g6 Bxg6 18.Nh3 Qc7 19.Ng5 Bf5 20.Rd5 Bxc2+ 21.Kxc2 Be7 22.Nxe6 fxe6 23.Qxe6 Nb4+ 24.Bxb4 Qxc4+ 25.Kb1 Qxb4 1-0

[Edited:] I *had* seen Kramnik-Malakhov. But I did feel black was quite passive.

What to do against 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 is a bit of a headache after all (if one wants to avoid the variation above)... Although the ideas you discuss in the Wisnewski thread are interesting and I had not seriously considered such a seemingly inactive move as Bd7 before.

The Scandinavian is a big family, Guidedbyvoices but their members do not get on well with each other
Obviously, bonsai is one of these "Königspringerzurückhaltungspolitik" adepts (the policy of keeping the king knight back ) 3...Qa5 4.d4 c6 intending Bf5,e6, Nbd7, with whom I have little to do.
In my opinion and analyses, it subsitutes the light Nd5Xf6+ concern with much more worrying ones based on the idea Bc4, Bd2, Qe2, 0-0-0, d4-d5 or g2-g4, and f2-f4 or Nh3-f4, h2-h4.

But what a useless thread!
Are there only non subscribers of this section here ? Who ignore what I did in the last update ? 
And who has read my articles in Chessbase magazine 106 and NIC77 ?

Who has seen Kramnik-Malakhov French cup 2004 ( commented in Echec et Mat magazine but also in Mega2006) on this so called interesting 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 Qb6 6.Bc4 Bf5 7.Qe2! idea ?

Who can rely on Anand-Tiviakov to imagine that 3...Qd6 is playable when the 'problem' ( 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5! Nbd7 7.Nc4! (instead of the poor 7.Bf4) 7...Qc7 8.Qf3! Nb6 9.Bf4 Qd8 10.Be5) is given by Khalifman in the excellent 3rd volume of the series "1.e4 according to...Anand"!!

Who can talk anymore of this 9...Qxf6 10.Qe2 Nd7 11.0-0-0 Nb6? (11...Bg4 is the only move) idea which loses in a few moves precisely overlooked, and that is the only weakness of the chapter, by Khalifman ?

Who realizes that Curt Hansen, one of the greatest opening wanderer of all times, has not played a single Scandinavian for 10 years now ? And that recent books on the subject written by non practicians as Black are, for the least, very "light" if you forgive me this euphemism ?
And who is Bobby Ang?

NO, the only way, which is far from easy is to follow what black experts Grandmasters who bet their rewards on busted chess, play and say about such variations ! 
After the retirement of poker player Wahls that leaves only a few of us; well maybe only me

Hi,
    I have been trying to save the Qa5 line for a few months now in the chessbase engine room but I am almost convinced it is busted ... The new super strong Rybka chess engine has shed a lot of light on the line ... I have resorted to 3... Qd6 but avoid early a6 moves as this is proving to slow .... Now of course we are not computers but I collected loads  of game results when trying to hone my opening repotoire and black is in a lot of trouble with Qa5 and this includes an artical I see where Andrew Martin was suggesting a line with an early Ne4 for black ... As for 3... Qd6!? this is doing very well usually followed up with Nf6 and an early Nc6 as there seems to be no need to worry about Nb5 in many of the positions ... I guess now I will be shot down in flames 

Regards

Yes my reaction to this Bobby Ang guy is that he sounds persuasive but is talking nonsense. There are a few ways for Black to get a playable position in this line. I'll admit for Black to win is difficult, but a draw should be attainable. "Refuted" is a very strong word!

Quote:

The fun option is 5...Nc6 6.Nge2! Be6!? 7.Bxe6 fxe6 8.0-0 0-0-0 and black's idea is to free himself by playing e5 twice. The more solid approach is  5...Bg4, one just has to remember not to play too early in this line in case white tries something like 6.f3 Bf5 7.Nge2 e6 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Ng3 Bg6 10.f4 and by having saved the move c7-c6 black is ready to castle out of trouble.

Quote:

I think 8.Qe2 is fairly strong here, the one time I had that on the board as white, I got a great position. If black plays 8...e6, then after 9.0-0-0 black is solid, but quite passive.

That game went 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd2 c6 6.Bc4 Qb6 7.Nf3 Bf5 8.Qe2 Bxc2 The alternative way of accepting the gambit looks not good to me either: 8...Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qxc2 10.Rxb7 and white has also ideas involving Ng5. 9.0-0 Bf5 9...Bg6 is an interesting alternative that would have blunted some of the things white does in the game, but weakens the e6 pawn. 10.Be3 Qd8 Maybe rather to c7? 11.Ne5 e6 12.g4 Bg6 13.h4 Nd5 And now I played 14.Bxd5?!, which does give white a clear advantage, but 14.Nxd5! exd5 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.Bg5+ Be7 17.Rae1 f6 18.Bd3 fxg5 19.Bxg6+ Kd7 20.Qe6+ Kc7 21.Qxe7+ Nd7 22.h5+- would have been even better (ah, well, the computer always sees more than I do...).