The Scandinavian Defence

The Scandinavian Defence

By James Plaskett

Batsford, 2004

ISBN: 9780713489118

This is a useful monograph on the Scandinavian Defence, or the Centre Counter Defence as it was called in olden times.

James Plaskett’s snappy idiomatic prose, his digressive asides and throwaway insights, might not be to everyone’s taste, but that is because they are wrong. The man has an eye for good chess, and an enthusiastic appreciation of the same. Indeed, he played quite a lot of good and interesting chess himself in his time.

In essence, there are two very different opening systems here, according to whether (after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5) Black plays 2…Qxd5 or 2…Nf6.

On 2…Qxd5 3.Nc3, Black has four distinct possibilities:

• 3…Qd6 is the edgiest and current flavour of the month; Plaskett devotes a good 51 pages to it. No complaints here.
• 3…Qa5 is the most well established move, Anand even essaying it against Kasparov in the 1995 World Championship match, and it gets 21 pages. It is the subject of Christian Bauer’s recent DVD, reviewed here. Probably it should have received more attention.
• 3…Qe5+ is a mite provocative and is given 11 pages: Black follows up with 4…c6 and retreats the queen to …c7 once it is attacked by 5.d4 or 5.Nf3. Not as beginnerish as it looks.
• Finally, all of 8 pages are devoted to the stolid and fairly dull 3…Qd8.

On 2…Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5, Black has fair chances after both 4.c4 and 4. Nf3. Both moves are covered in chapter 8 (which has 16 pages, for the record). Black can also meet 3.d4 with 3…Bg4, the Portugese Variation, but although this can yield some spectacular victories it is probably inadequate against best play. If White plays 3.c4 (rather than 3.d4), Black should respond with 3…c6 and be prepared to transpose into the Panov-Botvinnik Variation of the Caro-Kann following 4.d4 or 4.Nc3. The Icelandic Gambit (3.c4 e6) is a dubious alternative, although great fun for blitz games. There is also a chapter devoted to a minor White alternative on move three, 3.Bb5+, (9 pages, should there be any query) and Black comes out OK here.

Overall, this book is a good survey of Black’s various options in the Scandinavian Defence. If I were to play the opening as Black, I’d take two approaches. One would be to go 2…Nf6 3.d4 (or 3.c4 c6) Nxd5: this is a sound, straightforward, low-maintenance defence to 1.e4. A second approach would be to play 2…Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 (3…Qa5 is fine too), which still looks interesting and complex and not at all easy to meet. Is the queen a target for White’s minor pieces or a sleeping tiger that should be left well alone?