Scandinavian Defence

Scandinavian Defence - Introduction

The Scandinavian defence is described in an ancient poem titled, Schachs d'amour, which translates in Valencian to "Chess of love", Valencian is the root of modern day Catalonian, the language spoken on the eastern coast of Spain as well as in the French Pyrénées-Orientales. The manuscript was written around 1475, it was discovered in 1905 and it describes a fictitious chess game in which black responds with D5 to challenge white's E4 opening. The poem uses the game as an allegory for love, in which white is represented with red pieces (Mars, Man, Passion, War), and Black is represented by green (Venus, woman, peace), the game ends in a pure mate in which white is victorious. The poem is in fact the earliest recorded game of chess in which the modern day rules are described, specifically in reference to the moves of the queen and bishops, however it is unclear if at the time to complete modern day rules were in use, since neither side castles or captures en passant. The defence is named in honour of the Scandinavian chess masters, who in the 19th century analysed, and demonstrated that it is playable by black. Though it has never enjoyed widespread popularity, it can be an excellent surprise weapon against an opponent who is unfamiliar with the defence. Despite the fact that it exaggerates white's opening advantage, the gain in position is not significant enough to refute the opening.

The defence is named in honour of the Scandinavian chess masters, who demonstrated in the 19th centuray that it is playable by black. Though it has never enjoyed widespread popularity, it can be an excellent surprise weapon against an opponent who is unfamiliar with the defence.

Scandinavian Defence - Mainline

The mainline of the Scandinavian defence, is less commonly referred to as the Mieses-Kotrč variation, It is named after Jacques Mieses and Jan Kotrč; They were both Chess masters who lived between the eighteen and nineteen fifties, they analysed the line and came up with the Mieses-Kotrč gambit. The mainline of the Scandinavian facilitates this gambit which is why it bears their name today. Though the gambit is now commonly known and simple to refute, many players at the club level still fall for it. In the gambit white pushes their B-file pawn to the fourth rank, when black shifts their queen to A5. Despite the fact that the mainline diverges from the gambit, it still bears their name, in honour of the fact that they performed the first serious analysis of what we refer to as the Scandinavian defence. In recent decades the gambit itself has been renamed the Leonhardt Gambit, and recapturing white's pawn with queen takes D5, is now referred to as the Mieses-Kotrč variation, or more commonly the Scandinavian defence.

Jacques Mieses and Jan Kotrč were the first to seriously consider black's D5 response to E4, they originally came up with the Mieses-Kotrč gambit, though the mainline diverges from the gambit it still bears their name in honour of their initial analysis.

Scandinavian Defence - Gubinsky-Melts defence

The Gubinsky-Melts variation of the Scandinavian defence is named after correspondence master Michael Melts and Gubinsky. Melts wrote a detailed book regarding queen's D6 retreat, in it he explains how prior to the 21st century there was no real theoretical analysis regarding this variation, most early opening books do not even mention the D6 option after white develops their knight with tempo. The defence aims to keep the queen on an active central square, normally black either undevelops their queen back to D8, or shifts it to A5, either of these two are playable options, however D8 is considered very passive, and A5 often results in a loss of tempo against black's queen. The D6 retreat looks to preserve tempo while keeping black's queen active, by not retreating her to D8, black will preserve further tempo if they castle long and put their rook onto the already semi-open D-file.

The defence aims to keep the queen on an active central square, normally black either undevelops their queen back to D8, or shifts it to A5, either of these two are playable options, however D8 is considered very passive, and A5 often results in a loss of tempo against black's queen.

Introduction to the Scandinavian defence

Scandinavian Defence - Introduction

Scandinavian Defence - Mainline

Scandinavian Defence - Gubinsky-Melts defence