Agressive blitz repertoire against the Scandinavian main line 1e4 d5

 A lot of players play the scandinavian online, i.e 1e4 d5

This is a interesting sideline which is promising for white, especially in speed chess and online.

 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. Bc4 

Typically, Black develops the knight on f6, plays c7-c6 to move the queen back to c7.

4..Nf6 5. d3 c6 6. Bd2 Qc7

Here White can either play positionally with 7 Nf3, or decide to be more ambitious with 7 Qe2 preparing 0-0-0 and advancing f,g and h pawns.

Visually, I am representing in the next diagram the possibilities for White

The main line is as follows with 7 Qe2

 7. Qe2 Bf5 8. h3 e6 9. g4 Bg6 10. f4 Be7 11. Nf3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O

Black must find counterplay as White is already threatening  f4-f5! in the diagram above.

If you want to play more positionally, the line with 7 Nf3 goes like this:

7. Nf3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 e6

White can still play g2-g4 in this line, attacking f7 after g4-g5. White can castle 0-0 or even 0-0-0.

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Game replay above

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My game against Hikaru Nakamura : PGN and Animated replay

Replay available here

My blitz game against Hikaru Nakamura Aug 2020- Scandinavian

 got the privilege to play in a Hikaru arena and got faced with GM Hikaru Nakamura himself in a blitz 3 minutes for each player.

needless to say, I lost but this is quite an instructive loss I think.

[White "thechesscorner64"][Black "Hikaru"][WhiteElo "2402"][BlackElo "3218"]

[Result "0-1"][ECO "B01"][Date "2020.08.22"]

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. d4 c5

here Hikaru surprised me with 4..c5. The best answer is 5 Nc3 to develop a piece followed by Bf4. I played 5c4 and 6 d5 which is ok.

 5. c4 Qd8 6. d5 g6 7. Nc3 Bg4 8. Be2 Bg7 9. h3 Bxf3 10. Bxf3 Nbd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Bf4

we reached the following position with Black to play.

Here Nakamura uncorked 12..Ne8!An excellent idea ! Black plans to relocate knight from e8 to d6. from there, Black will play Ra8-b8 and a6-b5 creating pressure on my queenside pawn. This move opens the diagonal h8-a1 for the bishop on g7. 

I suggest to replay the moves in the app below.

We reached the following position after 17..Nf6, White to play 

it was time to start white's counterplay on the kingside with f4-f5, starting with 18 f4! instead I played 18 Rfe1 and Black started to put further pressure

18..b5 19. cxb5 axb5 20. Rad1 b4 21. Na4 Black to play

Hikaru played 21..c4 and I cannot capture the pawn as I need to protect the knight on a4. I had to play 22Qf4! attacking b4 if he pushes the c pawn further. Instead I played 22 Re3 and 22.c3 give Black a large advantage which Black converted without trouble.

Here's the replay from 21 Na4

Final position after 31..c2!

Opening repertoire against Scandinavian 1..d5

Typically 1..d5 is a popular move for blitz/fast games for tournaments and online play against 1e4. less so at top level, so here's my quick guide against 1..d5 for 1 e4 players !

1e4 d5 Repertoire for white

One advice is that if White goes castle on the kingside ( i.e early O-O), Black is close to equalize. Therefore White must select more ambitious lines with O-O-O ( castling queen side) to fight for an advantage. Quite inportant  to remember for bullet / 3' games !

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Bc4

here Black can play

A) 6.. Bf5  which is the main line I recommend the following set-up for White
7. Bd2 e6 8. Qe2 Bb4 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. a3

10... Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Qc7 12. Ne5 12... Nxe5 13. dxe5 Nd5

Now we reach a fairly well-known position. Here's the trick 14 Bd4 !?

The main variation, most often played is this one instead 14. Bd2 O-O-O 15. g4 Bg6 16. f4 h5! 17. h3 hxg4 18. hxg4 Rxh1 19. Rxh1 Qb6 20. Rf1 Qd4.

In this line Black creates enough counterplay with 16..h5! break, opening the h file. if White prepares f4-f5, Black can play ..Qc5 or ..Qd4.  Database game stats do not indicate White has an edge here, nor do chess engines ( Stockfish, Komodo,..)

The idea behind 14 Bd4!? instead is a more active bishop, aiming at a7 or c5/d6. Also we will decide if g4 or f4 makes sense. This idea may surprise Black as well.

14... O-O-O 15 Bc5!? with an  edge for White. Please note that 14..b6 is the best answer to cover c5 for Black but White can still claim a smaller edge. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post  if you need to see how.

Final position ( Variation A) after 15 Bc5!?

A) 6.. Bg4 I'd say this is this the 2nd most popular move by scandinavian players

here's the line I recommend
7. h3 Bh5 8. Bd2 e6  9. Nd5! Qd8 10. Nxf6+ gxf6 11. Qe2 Nd7 12. g4! Bg6 13.
O-O-O Qc7 14. h4 h5 15. g5 O-O-O 16. gxf6 

Here again White has an edge. more space, Ne5 or Ng5 are possible, and White's king is safer. See replay below for additional variations

All variations here replay 1e4 d5 repertoire