Life is busy and time is short, too short for me ever to have bothered to study the Scandinavian, so I have no idea what theory recommends. I can see two viable options. The first is the retreat to safety, 3...Qd8. The only reason I'd be tempted to play this is that I have a dim memory of seeing the black queen get cornered and captured in some Scandinavian game or other. But it seems such a waste of time. The more aggressive option is 3...Qa5, with the hope of putting further pressure on c3 with a later ...Bb4. Play might go 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 and maybe now 5...c6 would be advisable, providing an escape route for the queen.
Well, OK, it all sounds a bit pedestrian so far - but hopefully, the pace and really interesting bit will pick up as soon we get into the middle game. Part 1 was last week, while part 2 was just posted today.
2 comments:
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 used to be my mainline as black but nowadays - even I haven't played ...d5 for a while - my focus has turned into 3...Qd6 which I guess is partly because of the trend but also it seems black setup looks quite solid.
31 years ago, I tought Daniel King (then about 15 years old like me) to appreciate Belgian lager in my local pub in Eeklo ("De Rivendel"). In return, Daniel tought me how to loose a game with 5 minutes on my clock against 1 minute on his'. Very nice guy. BTW - DK was there for the ECI European Youth Chess Championship (which he won, despite a serious hangover). I wonder if he remembers...
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