Scotch Gambit
Opening course for White · ECO C44
Skip the recapture, aim at f7, and make Black solve problems.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4. White delays the recapture on d4 and develops the bishop against f7 instead, so Black has to answer concrete threats from move four rather than settle into a quiet plan. The pawn usually comes back within a few moves; what stays is the open centre and the faster pieces. The course teaches the 5.e5 Modern Attack against 4...Nf6, both the 5.c3 and 5.O-O treatments of 4...Bc5, and the punishments for the greedier fourth moves. Two strong authors disagree about the whole enterprise, and the lessons say where.
- Chapters
- 4
- Lines
- 18
- Traps
- 5
- Sources
- 10
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: The main line, against 4...Nf6 5.e5 d5.
Part of your daily work.
- Learn
- Walk the line with the coach, a note on the moves that need one.
- Recall
- Play it from memory. Learned lines come back on a schedule.
- Tempo
- The same line against the clock, for a score to beat.
- Off book
- The opponent leaves the book with a real move; Stockfish prices your answers.
Before the moves: the big ideas
f7 is what the bishop is for
From c4 the bishop looks at f7, and in the opening only the king defends that square. Ng5, Qb3, Qd5 and Qh5 all appear later because they add a second attacker to the same point.
The pawn usually comes back
This is not a permanent sacrifice. In most branches White regains the pawn inside a few moves and keeps a better structure or faster development, so do not panic about material and do not chase it either.
Black's lever is ...d5
The counter to a bishop on c4 is a pawn to d5, hitting it and fighting for the centre at the same time. Every main line of this course runs through that break, and White's whole technique is what to do once the bishop has been traded off.
Two doors after 4...Nf6
5.e5 makes the knight move again and buys development at the cost of the light bishop. 5.O-O keeps the pieces and heads for the Max Lange, where the play is forced and Black has a narrow path to equality.
The lines, chapter by chapter
In learning order. The coach serves review one line a day; open any line yourself when you want it now.
The Modern Attack: 4...Nf6 5.e5
1 line
Black's most popular reply, and the main road of the one book written about this gambit. White pushes past, wins time on the knight, and accepts a trade of the good bishop to get there.
Castling Instead: the Max Lange
5 lines
5.O-O keeps the light bishop and gambles on the open e-file. The play turns forced very quickly, and Black's route to a good game is narrow enough that the traps below decide most club games.
4...Bc5 and the 5.c3 Offer
6 lines
Black defends the extra pawn with a developing move. Harding rates 5.c3 as White's only serious try, and the four answers below are the ones he analyses.
against 5...dxc3 6.Nxc3 d6, and Black meets the pin with ...Nge7 · 11 moves
New
The Other Fourth Moves
6 lines
Everything else Black has tried on move four, with the reply the sources give and an honest note where they stop.
Puzzles from this opening
The Scotch Gambit in brief
The Scotch Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4, and it is filed under ECO C44. This course teaches it from White's side in 18 drills across 4 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
- The main line against 4...Nf6 5.e5 d5
- The Max Lange main line against 8.Re1+ Be6
- The 9...Qxf6 trap against Black recaptures the f6 pawn with the queen
- Punishing 8...Kf8 against Black steps aside instead of blocking, then goes wrong
- The 8.fxg7 alternative against White takes on g7 before checking
- The Anderssen Attack against 4...Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4
- 5...Nf6 and the modern 7.Nbd2 against Black transposes to the Giuoco Piano
- Accepting with 5...dxc3, and 6.Bxf7+ against Black takes the second pawn
- The higher-stakes 6.Nxc3 against 5...dxc3 6.Nxc3 d6, and Black meets the pin with ...Nge7
- Declining with 5...d3 against Black hands the pawn back to clog the queenside
- The awkward 5...d6 against Black holds everything and pins the knight
- The 5.Ng5 raid against Two attackers on f7 straight away
- The London Defence and Morphy's finish against 4...Bb4+ and Black keeps taking
- The London Defence with 6.bxc3 against 4...Bb4+ 5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3
- 4...Be7, the modest reply against Black declines to fight for the centre
- 4...d6, the simple answer against Black props up the position instead
- Punishing 4...d6 5.c3 Ne5 against Black counterattacks the bishop
- The premature 4...d5 against Black breaks in the centre too early
Theory credited to
- The Scotch Gambit: An Energetic and Aggressive System for WhiteGM Alex Fishbein
- The Kibitzer 74: A Glass of ScotchTim Harding
- The Kibitzer 75: A Second Dram of the Scotch GambitTim Harding
- The Max Lange Attack in the Scotch GambitIM Alex Astaneh Lopez
- Max Lange Attack
- Scotch Game
- Scotch Gambit 4...Bc5Ian Simpson
- The Scotch Game: A Repertoire for WhiteGM Alexei Bezgodov and Vladimir Barsky
- Fast and Furious: The Good Old Scotch GambitIM Robert Ris
- Liang 'Ecstatic' After Defeating Aronian With 19th-Century GambitFM Jack Rodgers
6 branches are deliberately not drilled here, and the course records which and why rather than leaving the gap silent.
Questions
- What is the Scotch Gambit?
- The Scotch Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4, filed under ECO C44. Skip the recapture, aim at f7, and make Black solve problems. White delays the recapture on d4 and develops the bishop against f7 instead, so Black has to answer concrete threats from move four rather than settle into a quiet plan.
- How do you learn the Scotch Gambit?
- This course splits it into 18 drills across 4 chapters. You play each line from White's side against a coach note that explains the move, then the same lines come back on a spaced-repetition schedule until you can play them without prompting. Every position is verified with Stockfish at depth 20 before it ships.
- Where does the theory in this Scotch Gambit course come from?
- From published work by GM Alex Fishbein, Tim Harding, Tim Harding, IM Alex Astaneh Lopez and the reference sources credited on this page. The engine verifies the moves; the plans and assessments belong to the authors, and every drill records the page or section it came from.