Against the French, 2. Qe2 gets them out of their comfort zone immediately because they can't get a French pawn structure. It's objectively fine and works on all levels (It scores best even on master's level). Black will typically trade pawns on d5 and get a vulnerable Queen there. White can play almost universally with a King's Indian setup from there, which is less passive than its reputation in this line because one will get tempi on the queen. I didn't learn more theory than that and had great results with it.
2...Be7 and 3...d5 and Black gets a French pawn structure. But 2. Qe2 is so unprincipled, that Black should play for victory rather than for an opening.
@@yzfool6639 2...Be7 is a rare move (8% in 1800+ on lichess, 11% masters) and indeed tries to transpose back to the mainlines, though white can insist on deviating with 3. e5, which is objectively a bit dubious but scores well practically (best-scoring move in lichess 1800+). I personally would probably not go into that outside of blitz or bullet, but it should be playable in rapid up to high levels. Masters mostly go with a slow solid game with above-average winrates compared to other responses to the French. The general idea here is not necessarily to give classical tournament lines, but a practical approach for online games for people who want to avoid the French. I myself have not encountered 2.... Be7 even once.
I'm 1850 and the only opening I use is a variation of the queens pawn as white. As black my only "trick" besides sensical chess are some killer queen moves. Openings and too much theory kinda take the fun out of it for me, after all I'm not aiming to be a 2500 player, just have fun and settle around 2000
I think the main lines against the Scandi are pretty good. I wasn't too sure about playing the main lines, but after having watched Daniel Naroditsky's speedrun, I feel comfortable playing against this opening. The positions are easier to play for white and there isn't too much theory because black has to be precise to get okay positions. If you're interested, check out the episodes in his current speedrun where he faces the Scandinavian. He gives an overview over the most critical positions aver each game and if you like them for white, you're good going for this, because this is the best thing the scandi has to offer. Also a funny Gambit against the main line is the Leonhardt Gambit with Qa5 b4. The engine thinks it's as good as the Smith-Morra (-0.2) and I like to play it sometimes, because it's relatively unknown.
I’m a Leonhardt player as well. I’ve successfully pulled off Eric Rosens queen winning trap a couple times, but even when they don’t fall into that I still get an interesting position with tons of development with tempo on the queen. Sure the mainlines are better but games are meant to be fun first and foremost. The annoying thing about the Scandinavian is that after blacks first move, you know exactly what the position is going to look like in 10 moves. I was blessed with the white pieces, I’m not giving black the drivers seat.
Englisch, Sicilian, Four Knights E4 type Positions, Queens Gambit, Center Game, Slav Defense. Thats what im playing better or worse lately. English being my absolute Favorite.
Smith Morra is very interesting but I never tried it because I figured there's a million viable lines that I'm not going to know. But if you watch Marc Esserman's channel you can see how aggressive it is. I started 3 years ago and I've always gone for the openings cut down on theory. The sidelines. Now I play only three openings for black and white. The Bird, the Dutch and the St George. But I don't know my ELO because chess is fun even when it's unrated.
@@yzfool6639 Lol you could be right. When I first started I played rated and I would not be happy when I lost but when stopped rated it was fun even when I lost,.
@@ChessCenturion the first real opening I learnt was the queens gambit I only learned the scholars mate at like 300 and used it once and felt bad for people falling for it like I did lol
Any book that covers the basics is fine, even free chessable courses do the trick. For the opening repertoire I think Chessbook is by far the most powerful tool. Just get lines of openings you like from various youtube videos and complement them with lichess database/engine moves. I recommend a bias toward similar moves and structures as long as it doesn't blunder anything, so you play in familiar territory most of the time. My go to channels for opening lines are: Naroditsky and Miodrag Perunovic (Mio the Butcher). Naroditsky is a bit more beginner-friendly, Mio teaches a bit more complex but great attacking chess especially for black.
I’m around 1900 uscf and thinking of playing the Scandinavian with g4 it’s gotten quite popular but looks pretty good. Any recommendations playing it and if you guys have a study or a UA-cam would help have a tournament tomorrow😭
Against the French, 2. Qe2 gets them out of their comfort zone immediately because they can't get a French pawn structure. It's objectively fine and works on all levels (It scores best even on master's level). Black will typically trade pawns on d5 and get a vulnerable Queen there. White can play almost universally with a King's Indian setup from there, which is less passive than its reputation in this line because one will get tempi on the queen. I didn't learn more theory than that and had great results with it.
2...Be7 and 3...d5 and Black gets a French pawn structure. But 2. Qe2 is so unprincipled, that Black should play for victory rather than for an opening.
@@yzfool6639 2...Be7 is a rare move (8% in 1800+ on lichess, 11% masters) and indeed tries to transpose back to the mainlines, though white can insist on deviating with 3. e5, which is objectively a bit dubious but scores well practically (best-scoring move in lichess 1800+). I personally would probably not go into that outside of blitz or bullet, but it should be playable in rapid up to high levels. Masters mostly go with a slow solid game with above-average winrates compared to other responses to the French.
The general idea here is not necessarily to give classical tournament lines, but a practical approach for online games for people who want to avoid the French. I myself have not encountered 2.... Be7 even once.
I'm 1850 and the only opening I use is a variation of the queens pawn as white. As black my only "trick" besides sensical chess are some killer queen moves. Openings and too much theory kinda take the fun out of it for me, after all I'm not aiming to be a 2500 player, just have fun and settle around 2000
Totally agree, I like having a bit of opening knowledge in terms of general ideas, plans and setups but not memorization
I have a 61% win ummm “long pause” percentage, I think you meant winrate
Haha that's what I was looking for
I think the main lines against the Scandi are pretty good. I wasn't too sure about playing the main lines, but after having watched Daniel Naroditsky's speedrun, I feel comfortable playing against this opening. The positions are easier to play for white and there isn't too much theory because black has to be precise to get okay positions.
If you're interested, check out the episodes in his current speedrun where he faces the Scandinavian. He gives an overview over the most critical positions aver each game and if you like them for white, you're good going for this, because this is the best thing the scandi has to offer.
Also a funny Gambit against the main line is the Leonhardt Gambit with Qa5 b4. The engine thinks it's as good as the Smith-Morra (-0.2) and I like to play it sometimes, because it's relatively unknown.
If you aren't playing mainlines against unsound openings, you aren't trying to win.
I’m a Leonhardt player as well. I’ve successfully pulled off Eric Rosens queen winning trap a couple times, but even when they don’t fall into that I still get an interesting position with tons of development with tempo on the queen. Sure the mainlines are better but games are meant to be fun first and foremost. The annoying thing about the Scandinavian is that after blacks first move, you know exactly what the position is going to look like in 10 moves. I was blessed with the white pieces, I’m not giving black the drivers seat.
Englisch, Sicilian, Four Knights E4 type Positions, Queens Gambit, Center Game, Slav Defense. Thats what im playing better or worse lately. English being my absolute Favorite.
Smith Morra is very interesting but I never tried it because I figured there's a million viable lines that I'm not going to know. But if you watch Marc Esserman's channel you can see how aggressive it is. I started 3 years ago and I've always gone for the openings cut down on theory. The sidelines. Now I play only three openings for black and white. The Bird, the Dutch and the St George. But I don't know my ELO because chess is fun even when it's unrated.
Chess is fun when you can't see the ELO, is more accurate.
@@yzfool6639 Lol you could be right. When I first started I played rated and I would not be happy when I lost but when stopped rated it was fun even when I lost,.
Bro just showed the e4 Gotham course
Like 50% of it yeh, it's pretty damn good
hey ..checking on u …been a while! hope all good, cheers
I'll definitely have to try the 150 Attack. I have an opponent that plays the black side.
I would recommend throwing f3 in to stop Ng4 to attack the Bishop on e3 in some positions
I never learned how to play the fried liver only how to play against it 😂
Haha fr? That was like the first thing I ever learned
@@ChessCenturion the first real opening I learnt was the queens gambit I only learned the scholars mate at like 300 and used it once and felt bad for people falling for it like I did lol
as always love your content. do you read any books? or recommend any books. for beginner immediate or advanced players?
Any book that covers the basics is fine, even free chessable courses do the trick. For the opening repertoire I think Chessbook is by far the most powerful tool. Just get lines of openings you like from various youtube videos and complement them with lichess database/engine moves. I recommend a bias toward similar moves and structures as long as it doesn't blunder anything, so you play in familiar territory most of the time.
My go to channels for opening lines are: Naroditsky and Miodrag Perunovic (Mio the Butcher). Naroditsky is a bit more beginner-friendly, Mio teaches a bit more complex but great attacking chess especially for black.
I’m around 1900 uscf and thinking of playing the Scandinavian with g4 it’s gotten quite popular but looks pretty good. Any recommendations playing it and if you guys have a study or a UA-cam would help have a tournament tomorrow😭
do you have anything on d4 openings?
Arms are back! 🫶
You know it