--- title: The Most Aggressive Opening for Black description: A guide and introduction to the Perfect Scandinavian! image: https://image.lichess1.org/display?fmt=webp&h=550&op=thumbnail&path=axOvrI38NXFK.webp&w=880&sig=602523a628d5e7cfd606dd73e2da77fe212a4b08 --- Some, if not most of you might be surprised on how can the Scandinavian can be "most aggressive" when your (and mine) opponents play it like a *caro-ish* system, basically premoving **Nf6–c6–Bf5–e6**. While it's true, that this setup is iconic for the *Classical Scandinavian*, it's not what we will strive for with Black! You can treat this post as a **part 2** to my post about [Anti-Scandinavians](https://lichess.org/@/CkickyCheck/blog/there-are-no-good-anti-scandinavians/vncd0VCP) (my finest work ever). ## Perfect Scandinavian We want to justify breaking opening principles on **move 2**, by following it up with more aggression with **Bg4–Nc6–O-O-O**. We can't get that every time, but more on that in a moment. Again, what we want is **Bg4**, **Nc6**, **O-O-O**. In short, if **Bg4** or **Nc6** come with a threat — play it. If not, ask yourself, if White can punish you. If not — play it. How could White punish you? Let's take a look at when we can and can't play our desired setup: ### Understand Bg4 *** The only way to punish **Bg4** is to play **h3**. It forces us to either take on **f3** when we don't want, or run into **h3–g4**, which is very good for White in the *Scandi*. https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/CgA6ftKu#9 **5...Bg4** isn't good, as we don't create a threat, meaning White is free to play **6.h3!** *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/E2fy1Ugi#5 Here **3...Bg4** is best, as it threatens **Bxf3**, so **h3** isn't a big deal. Also Black isn't in time with **4.Be2–h3** or **4.Nc3**, as we have **Qe6+**, which no longer blocks our bishop. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/HJCmN5Vb#9 **5...Bg4** might look weird, as it seemingly runs into **6.f3**, but this is good for Black, as the **g1-knight** doesn't have the **f3-square**. The bishop would then return to **d7**! as on **h5** it would be a target for **g4–h4** and **Ne2–Nf4**. Other ways to block the attack on the queen aren't satisfactory for White. **6.Nf3** runs into **Qf5!**, **6.Bxe2** just **Bxe2** with **Nc6–e6–Qf5–O-O-O** on the way. ### Understand Nc6 *** This is a little trickier, as White has more ways to punish **Nc6**. * **Bd2**, to play **Nb5** and meet **Qb6** with **c4-c5**, * often simple **d5** is good for White, * in the middlegame we have to watch out for our queen, as we can't rescure it to **c7**, so **a3–b4** for example can be annoying, * **Bb5** can be annoying, if White plays **Bf1–Bb5**, but If White develops the bishop somewhere else first, we should have enough compensation for the potential structural damage. https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/TZuK7ZjN#5 Even though the position looks calm, White is quick to punish **3...Nc6?** That's why we have to start from **Bg4** in this case. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/9HYmdSWb#9 Again, we are not in time to follow up with **Bg4**, so we get crushed. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/EecwSXjK#9 Now **6.Bb5** is kinda a waste of tempo, **6.d4** runs into **Bg4–O-O-O**, so we are free to play **5...Nc6!** The same is true for **5.Be2**. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/NUsx5tPh#7 **5.Bb5** is obviously out of the question, **5.d4** runs into our hands and we can meet **5.Nc3** with **Qd7** *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/px0Hmu2C#5 **3...Nc6** with a tempo! **4.Nf3** can be met with **Bg4** and the big idea against **4.Be3** is **e5!** ### Understand O-O-O *** Wait, what? Don't we play **Bg4–Nc6** to castle queenside automatically? Yes, that's true, but there is one pattern you have to always watch out before castling! https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/LdsFMvwd#13 Look, you've done everything right, you castled, are ready to start an attack, but you forgot about one small pawn on **f7**, and now you're lost. Anytime **Ng5** is on the table, you have to start with **e6** (so **Rd7** is an option). *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/sigFPj6z#15 This one is almost impossible to figure out by yourself, you castle with a tempo, yet you still lose, due to that pesky **f7** pawn. Okay, now you know when not to go for this setup, and when to do so. But what's next? How do we capitalize of that, how do we start an attack? ## **The Perfect Scandinavian** Our plans and ideas highly depend on how White sets up. The biggest difference is with the d-pawn. If it's on **d4** — obviously we want to win it, if it's on **d3** we will get a more attacking type of game. White could also go for **g3**, which doesn't change our setup, but does influence our plans. It's kinda unique, we will play for very quick **h5–h4** there. ### 1\. d4 pressure *** Most commonly these positions arrise from the **3.Nf3** (or **3.d4**) sideline, where we create threats before White is able to take advantage of our queen. > **Winning the d4 pawn** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/jWu96BY6#15 Believe it or not, but **7.O-O** was the decisive mistake, not **8.h3**. By the way, there is a theoretical line, where we win the **d4-pawn**, but White is fine: *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/DE6E0Fdw#13 Kinda crazy how we can just take, and how the position stays **0.0**. But likely not for long. White's compensation is pretty easy to deal with, so it feels like refuting a gambit, rather than walking a tight rope. > **e5 break** This is much more common, it's often the missing piece in our attack on **d4**. https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/b7OEcImY#11 Just when it looks like White managed to solidify the centre, here comes **e5!** In this case we use the fact after **7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Bxd1** the knight is pinned, so we can recapture the pawn with pressure. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/dNOgMTPH#7 White plays an interesting **4.Be3!?**, preparing **c4** on the next move. We seem stuck, as **Bg4** is not possible, **Bf5** preparing **O-O-O** is slow, **Nf6** also runs into **5.c4**, but we have timely **e5!** thretning to take on **d4** and opening the DSB, so we have **Bb4** in our arsenal aswell. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/QxMxNT9k#11 Similar to last example, **e5!** again comes in clutch. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/NXHzvcQO#15 This time we don't use **e5** as an counter attack, but as an final blow to White's centre capitalizing on the pin. But the **Rd8** **pin** isn't the only one we have in the position. *** I think you can see how strong the **e5** **break** can be. That leads us to a very interesting line, where we play a seemingly horrible move, because we will play **e5**... twice... https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/PjFUWSrn#13 ### 2\. Opposite side castling *** White isn't obliged to play **d4** though. Many sidelines include White playing **d3** instead, or sometimes delaying moving the **d2** pawn for some time. Here, our setup is less aggressive (since we don't create an immediate threat), but with White exerting less influence over the center, we can begin building up an attack. > **Bg4 pin** However it's still possible for White to mess up in the opening phase. With no pressure on **d4** it might seem like this pin can't be dangerous, which is often the case, but sometimes White ties their shoes together and we can capitalize of it. But first let's look at how being to aggresive on this pin can be dangerous for us aswell! https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/bcAGpzxS#9 A common motif connected to the **Bg4 pin** is transferring the queen to **h5**, to nullify the impact of **h3**, but you have to watch out for the simple **hxg4**. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/lxltSbHw#13 Okay, with the bishop on **e2** there is no pin, so **Qh5** is bad aswell. But what about the bishop on **c4**? >:) *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/e8iWIs0p#13 This time **Qh5** finally works. Had White played **8.Bf4** we would be completely winning with **Nd4!**, but against **8.Be3** you can't play **Ne5??** as White has a stunner tactic. But White is already worse, they can't defend from **Bxf3**, so we are in no rush. Instead we can prepare **Ne5** by playing **a6** (stopping **Bb5**) and **e6** (stopping **Nxe5**). > **Qf5 maneuver** Finally let's talk about attacks! When we castle long, the queen on **a5** is only a target for White for **a3–b4**. However since White decided to play **d3**, that means **Bd3** isn't an option for them, allowing us to put the queen on a safe and active square **f5**. https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/jmJs6ang#17 The queen on **a5** is just a a target. Moving the queen to **h5** is pointless, as there is no pin, so White can just play **h3**, but we have another active square on the kingside – **f5!** One fun way of continuing the attack is **Rg8–g5**. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/T4uRthp7#11 It is possible to play **Qf5** before castling, if White is able to punish that. *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/PHFsSlRw#17 Same story here, **9...O-O-O??** runs into **10.Nb5! Qb6 11.Ng5!** > **Fishhook** I'd love to show examples of when going for the fishhook tactic is correct and when it fails, but in all honesty I don't really understand it that well. However it's still very important to know the idea, and always consider it, when we have played **Bg4–Qf5** and White played **h3** after castling short. Here's one example: https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/7ZEMUe2d#13 It might seem straightforward at first — White takes, we deliver mate on the h-file, but it's far more complicated than that. In this example after **8.hxg4 hxg4 9.Nh2** White has a big threat with **Bxg4**. What do we play? **e6!** closing the diagonal. Now it's simple, White takes on **g4**, we play **10...Qh7** and we win, right? Well this runs into **11.Bh3!** so the move instead is **10...Qg6!** pinning the g-pawn just to disallow **Bh3**. And this is the line only for this specific variation. Okay, now you should have some understanding of when to go for the *Perfect Scandi* (and when not to) aswell as how to play those positions. However not every sideline will let us play the desired setup. For example White can just play **h3** at any moment, so I want to give you a way to play for those setups aswell. ## Anti-Perfect Scandinavians Other than **h3**, there is one setup I'd reccomend switching up aswell, which is the unsuspecting **4.Bc4–d3**. ### Triangle *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/qHV3ehdE#0 The reason we don't go for **Bg4** is it kinda helps White what they want to achieve after **f3** — **Bd2–Qe2–O-O-O**. If you really want, it is perfectly playable, but can be [dangerous](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMiG6WKItZU). I much prefer **5...a6**. However White can literally stop us from playing **Bg4** by playing an early **h3**! ### Ntirlis' 3.h3!? *** White's point is to prepare **Nf3–d4–c4** without getting bothered by **Bg4**. White hasn't committed anything yet, therefore will look to punish us for the way we setup. One simple way to meet this is **Nc6–Bf5–Nf6** with the queen dropping to **d6** instead, where **h3** isn't that useful, but engine finds a creative way to exploit the pawn standing on **h3**! https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/kjY3Kyja#0 With the pawn still on **h2** the position after **Qe6+** would be around **+0.7**! Those two lines are quite fun to play, but there is a different way White can play **h3** which kills almost all the fun. ### Natural h3 *** https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp/9UFGP5Vk#0 The worst part is how natural and effective the moves are for someone looking to avoid confrontation. White's point is simple, the knight on **c6** combined with the queen on **a5** and **no Bg4** just suck. * **a6–b5** is so slow, as White will get **d4** quickly and the queen on **a5** is akward. * **6...g5** is interesting, but after White's natural moves we get a worse position that is also harder to play. * If we play **Bf5**, we don't have the important **Qf5** maneuver. * To be fair it is playable, but the queen wants to reroute to **d6** and we are not castling queenside. Basically investing **2 moves** to switch our opening from *Qa5 Scandi* to *Qd6 Scandi*. * And we lack good waiting moves. **6...Ne5** isn't marked with an exclamation mark because it's a great move, but because it's the only good one in my opinion. That should conclude all *Scandi sidelines*, which means the only thing left is the *Classical Scandi*. But that's for another post. There is much more theory, like [this line](https://lichess.org/analysis/pgn/1.e4+d5+2.exd5+Qxd5+3.Nc3+Qa5+4.Nf3+Nf6+5.d4+Bf5+6.Ne5+c6+7.Bc4+e6+8.g4+Bg6+9.h4+Nbd7+10.Nxd7+Nxd7+11.h5+Be4+12.O-O+Bd5+13.Nxd5+cxd5+14.Bd3+Bd6%20) starts at **15th move**, where White can choose from **4 options** on **15th move**! I hope you enjoyed learning about the *Scandi!* I know I didn't go deep or specific with the variations, but that isn't the purpose of this post. It's meant as a showcase of an often overlooked opening and as a guide on what positions/moves should you choose if you want to build your own repertoire. Thank you for reading and here's the [study link](https://lichess.org/study/eZI8T1sp). Btw if you see some chapters getting added in the *Classical Scandi* section, that might mean the last part is coming!