@jkarp, that's what I meant--I think this line is stronger than 2...Qxd5.

I think that the old argument that 2...Qxd5 gives white an edge does not hold up anymore. Certainly, having the queen on a5 is just as valuable as the tempo lose.

It's safer than 2...Qxd5 but not stronger. David Taylor has proven that with new ideas, 2...Qxd5 can really hurt if played correctly. The 7th USCCC, was Dave's day in the sun...He took this prestigious title by storm with the phenomenal score of 13 1/2 - 1/2! His main workhorse was the 2...Qxd5 variation.

I'm not a fan of this opening by black. I like to play as white here anytime. I've sometimes played this, and after Qa5 white played b4? once, which was a well known trap and I fell right into it.

Yes he can, but it has the disadvantages you mention. This line was suggested to me by tiger_lilov instead of the 3...Nxd5 line in which Black can get very cramped after 4.c4 Nb6 5.Nf3, but in this line White can still play c4 and Black will be cramped anyway, which has led me to abandon the Scandinavian altogether.

To add to that line of 4. f3, 4...Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. c4 e6 7. dxe6 Bxe6 8. d5 Bf5 9. Nc3 Bc5 10. Qe2+ Kf8 11. Be3 and Black has a uncomfortable position.

3...Nxd5 is still preferable.

5. Be3!? or 5. Nc3 looks okay to me.

@jkarp, I have the White pieces here. l-d-j is still at least three moves from castling kingside, or two from castling queenside.

I like 5. Be2 here.

That doesn't win the pawn- Bxf3 Bxf3 Qxd4 Bxc6+ bxc6 Qxd4

Well spotted!

6. 0-0 is the right move. Then if 6...Bxf3, 7. Bxf3, Qxd4, 8. Bxc6! wins the Queen. I'm going to bow-out of the analysis at this point. Be sure you look deeper into the position before discarding a move.

Castle because you want to, not because you can. While annabekoach's line is correct (a standard trap in these kind of positions), I don't think it necessarily shows that 6. 0-0 is better than c4? The same line is on the board at present, for example.

@jkarp, 6.O-O? Bxf3 7.Bxf3 Qxd4 and Black wins a free pawn. **EDIT** annabekoach is correct; after this line White has 8.Bxc6+! so castling was in fact okay. I stand by my analysis that the text move is fine, though.

Nc3 also looks ok to me.

Black decides to take chances here. Qd8 seems to be a good choice to me. But black goes out for rampage. I think this move is a bad idea. If the black queen gets cramped in, it might be useless or just lost.

@schakertje: in fact this is stilll book and it's the most played move..

b6 isn't very good for white

Interesting thing to point out though, you chose to move the bishop to e3 'not to worry about the pawn' yet you moved the pawn forward outside of the bsb range. I'm not saying its bad though, just pointing it out. I actually like this move, but I'm not so sure about the previous Be3.

Interesting observation, schakertje ! There is some redundancy between Be3 and d5 but as you said d5 is still ok here.

Or simply castle!

instead I think castling is a lot better

Looks like a fair trade.

I don't like this though. Why move Rc1 if you are going to place it back? Black now is a pawn ahead, but a weak kingside (0-0-0 is weaker than 0-0 commonly speaking). But if black can hold it, white is simply a pawn behind and black should win or get at least a draw. Maybe I would have played Qa4 or Qb3 instead. Qa4 should at least win back the pawn with a lot of danger ahead for black.

Indeed I would not capture the a2 pawn here as Black. It is super dangerous especially with the two bishops sharply pointed to my king and the White queen has easy access to a4.

I think black would be better served with Nc2, trading his weak knight (where can it go?) for white's strong bishop. Yes, black returns the pawn, but I don't think it's a big issue.

After 12. ...Nc2, however, 13. Rxa7 Nxe3 14. fxe3, and it looks like white has a fairly strong attacks on both the black king and the black queen. Also, the eventual trade of ls bishops and then e4 could give white a pretty solid center. I agree with @bwaa that this is the best response.

13. Ra4 seems strong. 13...Nd3 14. Bxd3 Qxd3 15. Qa1!? Re8 16. b4! Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Qxc4 18. Rc1! and Black is in serious trouble.

@chesswar100 I considered 13.Ra4 but I was not convinced that it gained me anything right away. After all, Black isn't compelled to move the Knight--it's still defended by the Bf8. @jkarp, it just means he told me (during the game).

I would have played h5. The bishop is more or less untouchable on g4. Of course it will require a lot of calculations to make sure it stays that way.

I'm also not so sure about h5 for the same reason l-d-j pointed out to bwaa; white doesn't have to take it. Instead, there are a lot of other moves white can play before white plays it. I also don't see why black must place the knight away after Ra4.

In fact, the move 14.Nh4 was what scared me.

Bxf3 would have been tempting to me, to put the bishop on the f3-a8 diagonal, and to posibly gain control over e4. But I agree Nxf3 is actually stronger.

I would have played Bxf3 but who am I? I don't really see why this is stronger and the bishop has a very strong diagonal while the knight can develop in other ways. Maybe because e4 can be played later on. Also if Bxf3 is played, the knight on f6 is pinned because bg4 loses the queen.

@jkarp, the Nb4 is defended by the Bishop on f8. @schakertje, I wanted a Knight on f3 rather than a Bishop because after 14.Bxf3 e4, there's nothing White can do but retreat 15.Be2 and then I'd have nothing to show for my time. In the text, I can now respond to 14...e4 with 15.Nd4, which is far better.

Yes, of course. I don't know how I could overlook your simple reply.

Bd6 suggests itself, though it doesn't look very attractive for Black.

@jkarp, this move loses the Knight, as you will soon see. A much better move was ...Bd6, as noted by chesswar100.

The issue isn't so much that black's knight doesn't cover d3 as that white's queen does, ever since the white knight came to f3. A minor point, maybe, but it helps see that if this move was to be played, it should have been played before swapping on f3 (and, indeed, before playing a6)

Auch! This is also why I didn't really like Qf5 earlier to be honest. Not that I saw all this, of course not lol, but the black queen can get cramped or pinned or whatever, like the game will probably show. If only Bxf5 wasn't check, then Nxe3 could actually be played.