Wow! That was quick! You're a lot more on the ball than I am! Look forward to any 8 Nbd2 analysis you dig out.

And yes, always happy to have the TopNotch apercus ...

'Cos of work pressures I've only just now managed to have a (quick) look at this again. On 8 d5, isn't 8 ...e6 just a complete answer? On first blush, 8 Nbd2!? though looks really interesting and a real challenge. As yet I've no idea what's best! I was looking at 8 ...e6 9 h3 Nf5 10 Qa4 Ne3 11 fe Qh6, but also 8 ...Nf5 (maybe better?!) 9 d5 (9 Qa4!? Kb8!?) Ne3 10 fe Ne5 11 Ne5 Be2 12 Qe2 Qe5 13 Nf3 Qh5 (13 ...Qf6!?) and at least Black has snaffled White's dangerous 'lightfielder'. Any thoughts? of course it's reassuring that Gawain Jones wasn't able to puncture our original line but it'd be nice to have a second string, and 6...Qh5 is after all highly thematic (esp. if White misses 7 Be3 ).

I agree with you about 6...Qh5 7 Be3 Nh6. 

In fact I suggested it here: http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1272374076/30#30

8.Qa4 perhaps leads to a draw after 8..Nf5 9.d5 Nxe3 10.fxe3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 Qe5 12. dxc6 Qxe3+.

8.Nbd2 and 8.d5 are also worth considering.

In a recent tournament I played vs Epishin (15 min + 5" Bronstein) the line. I could not remember too much so after 6...Qf5 I deviated with 7.h3 (instead of 7.Be3). Nevertheless, I won a pawn and had the better position, so my current view is that is very much a nice practical weapon vs skandinavian...

Hi Stefan! I see that you posted your analysis earlier in the "Scandinavian - 2. ... Nf6" thread. In the context of this topic, your line could be reached after:

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Be2 Nc6 5.d4 0-0-0 6.c4 Qf5 7. Be3  and here 7...Nf6 would transpose.
Earlier in the thread TopNotch had already successfully argued that 8.Nc3 poses serious problems, and now it looks like 8.0-0 is no picnic either.
So in the 2...Qxd5 or Nimzovich move order, Black's best still seems to be 7...Bxf3.

edit: I just checked my copy of Wisnewski's play 1...Nc6! and on page 42 I find:
1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 0-0-0 6.c4 Qf5 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 transposing. Following your line, he gives 13.Qxe2 and not your 13.Nxe2!, so this part of the repertoire could be in trouble.
Alternatively, Black could play 6...Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Qf5 hoping for 8.Be3 Bxf3, but then Wisnewski considers 8.0-0!? to be a critical try.

SOS #9 will contain an article by Tiviakov on 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.d4 Nc6 and 3...e5. That should provide some future ammunition for this thread! 
Of great interest to Nimzovich players too, since 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 is one of the main lines.
see http://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/PDFs/SOS_09_Eng_Contents.pdf

Hi all,

I have been playing  1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 variation for a while now, I feel that it is a reliable choice of opening if you face the Scandivinavian in OTB practice twice a year (which happens to be my case) and don't want to study too much theory.

Of course there is the odd uber-tactical variation that you need to know by heart as in all chess defences.

Last Sunday I faced IM Manuel Granados OTB in an Active tournament, he is a  very strong player but the Scandinavian is not his main defence, in the game he surprised me with 11. ... c5, a move that no one seems  to like but has a very good score in practice, I won the game after some adventures, judge for yourselves if it could be of any interest to our discussion:

Felipao - IM Manuel Granados Perez. Mollet Active tournament (15'+5" time control).

1.e4 d5. 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 Nc6 5.d4. 0-0-0. 6.c4 Qf5 7. Be3 Bxf3. 9.Bxf3 Nxd4. 10. Bxd4 Qe6+ 11.Be2 c5 (this opens the king a bit, Qe4 is the alternative) 12.Qa4 cxd4 13. Qxa7 d3 14. Nc3 dxe2 (maybe black can delay the capture a bit as my kninght now is set free) 15. Qa8+ Kc7 16. Qa5+ b6?! (Understandably, being much higher rated than me, my opponent wasn't keen on a draw but this seems to be a mistake) 16. Qa7+ Kc6 17. Nd5 Rc8 18.b4! ( not letting black off the hook) Nf6 19. b5+ Kc5 20. Rc1 (targetting the Rook on c8 and adding another piece to the attack) Kd4 21. Nxb6 Ke4 21. Nxc8 Qxc8. 22. Qe3+ Kf5 23.Qh3+. Winning another piece, latter i managed to convert the advantage in a full point.

My gut feeling is that the whole Bxf3 followed by Nxd4 tactic gives white good attacking chances, black king looks weak to me and his kingside is not developed. Computers do seem to like it though, as my opponent confessed that he had analyzed the whole thing with his Fritz and it gave him an advantage with black. Not sure about the specifics, certainly in our game he didn't remember any of these analyses.

Hope this helps 

linksspringer wrote on 05/22/08 at 10:22:40:


You 're right !   Just a bug in my analysis ! ...so I come with an other line:

Instead of 18.c5,  18.Qxd8 Kxa7 19.0-0 de 20.Rfc1! Nf6 21.b5 b6 (21...Qd6 22.Qa5+ Kb8 23.c5 and so on )22.c5 +-

but 16...Kc7 and it is a repetition !

So 10...c5 leads to a draw