Scandinavian Defence

Book excerpt: The Scandinavian Defence, previously thought to be a rather primitive and sub-standard response to 1 e4, has now emerged from the doldrums and been employed with success by some of the world's strongest Grandmasters, including Bent Larsen, Curt Hansen, Ian Rogers, Alexei Shirov and Vishy Anand. The traditional form of the opening is 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qa5, with a subsequent deployment of Black's Queen's bishop at f5 or g4, and indeed the current theoretical status of this line remains good. However, in recent years many alternative schemes have been tried. There has, for example, been a marked increase in the popularity of 3...Qd6!?, in conjunction with a swift ...a6 and ...b5, or ...Bg4, ...Nc6 and ...0-0-0, and sometimes even an early foray by the Black queen into the White kingside – all of which offers a radically different middlegame from the stonewalling so frequently associated with the older type of Scandinavian middlegames. Recent play also suggests that 3...Qe5, cheekily dubbed 'The Patzer Variation', might also not be so naive. Equally important are the latest lines arising from 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6, including the dangerous Icelandic Gambit and the aggressive Portuguese Variation which is currently at the cutting edge of chess theory.