Scotch Game
Opening course for White · ECO C45
Trade the d-pawn for e5, then take on c6 and play with the extra space.
The Scotch opens 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, giving up the d-pawn for the e5-pawn so that White still has a pawn in the centre while Black does not. The bill is a tempo, because the knight that recaptures on d4 has already moved once. This course plays 4.Nxd4 and meets 4...g6 and 4...d6 the same way, with 5.Nxc6, which leaves Black with doubled c-pawns and White with the more flexible structure. Against 4...Nf6 you get both answers: 5.Nxc6 and the Mieses, which is the main line of the whole opening, and the quieter 5.Nc3 heading for the Scotch Four Knights. Kasparov put the opening back into top-level practice in the early 1990s, and the practical case for it is that most 1...e5 players spend their preparation on the Ruy Lopez and the Italian instead.
- Chapters
- 5
- Lines
- 14
- Traps
- 5
- Sources
- 4
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: The g6 main line, against 4...g6.
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
One recipe against both space-conceding setups
When Black plays 4...g6 or 4...d6 rather than fighting for the centre, the answer is 5.Nxc6 in both cases. After 5...bxc6 the c- and d-pawns still span the middle of the board and the doubled c-pawns and lone a-pawn are the long-term targets, while White gains room with f2-f4 or c2-c4.
The bishop waits for Black's d-pawn to commit
Put the bishop on c4 while the d-pawn is still at home, because from d3 it would let Black play ...d7-d5 in one move. Once Black has committed to ...d6, d3 becomes the right square: the bishop props up e4 and White prepares to push in the centre with f2-f4.
Trade the bishop that guards Black's king
After ...g6 the bishop is going to g7, and White would like it off the board. The route is Be3 and then Bd4, which is why the light-squared bishop belongs on c4 rather than on d3, where it would get in the way of that manoeuvre.
The Four Knights is a different game
After 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 the exchanges on c6 and d5 leave a symmetrical pawn count and a fight over two things: White's bishop pair, and the outpost Black gets on e4. Nobody is trying to punish anybody, so the moves are about where the pieces belong: White wants the position opened for the bishops, Black wants a knight parked on e4.
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.
When Black Gives Up the Centre
3 lines
Against 4...g6 and 4...d6 the reply is the same: take on c6 and play with the extra room. What changes between them is where the light-squared bishop goes, and Black's own d-pawn decides between c4 and d3.
Two Recaptures and a Trapped Queen
3 lines
Three short lessons, each about a move Black plays by habit. The first is a recapture, the other two share the same wrong developing move and split at Black's ninth.
The Classical: 4...Bc5
4 lines
Black's most respected fourth move puts a second attacker on the knight, so White has to exchange it, reinforce it or move it. This course reinforces with 5.Be3 and counts attackers against defenders from there. Two punishments first, because both come from Black playing a natural developing move without doing that count.
The Mieses, the Main Line
2 lines
4...Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 is the sharpest thing White has and the most played line in the whole Scotch. Kasparov used it for a decade. Two branches at Black's eighth move, and be warned: what is written down publicly runs out early here, so both drills stop where the moves stop being anybody's recommendation.
The Quieter Answer: the Scotch Four Knights
2 lines
If the Mieses looks like more sharpness than you want, 5.Nc3 is the other way to meet 4...Nf6, and it is the one with proper published analysis behind it. The pin comes, the exchanges follow, and both sides get what they want: White the bishop pair, Black a knight on e4. Play it as a middlegame, not as a race.
Puzzles from this opening
The Scotch Game in brief
The Scotch Game is the chess opening that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4, and it is filed under ECO C45. This course teaches it from White's side in 14 drills across 5 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 g6 main line against 4...g6
- The d6 setup against 4...d6
- Trading on e6 against 7...d6 and 8...Be6
- The wrong recapture against 5...dxc6
- Punishing 8...Nf6 against 8...Nf6 9.e5 dxe5
- The queen walks into it against 9...Ng4 and 12...Nxh2
- Counting on move five against 5...Nf6
- The same idea, softer against 5...d6
- The attacker count, and the poisoned pawn against 5...Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 Ne5
- The fianchetto instead against 7.g3 d5
- The pin on c4 against 8...Ba6 9.b3 g6
- The modern retreat against 8...Nb6
- Asking the bishop with a3 against 10.a3 Bd6
- The quiet h3 plan against 10.h3 c6
Theory credited to
- The Scotch Game: A Repertoire for WhiteGM Alexei Bezgodov and Vladimir Barsky
- The Modernized Scotch GameGM Milos Pavlovic
- Wikipedia: Scotch Game
- lichess-org/chess-openings
10 branches are deliberately not drilled here, and the course records which and why rather than leaving the gap silent.
Questions
- What is the Scotch Game?
- The Scotch Game is the chess opening that begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4, filed under ECO C45. Trade the d-pawn for e5, then take on c6 and play with the extra space. The Scotch opens 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, giving up the d-pawn for the e5-pawn so that White still has a pawn in the centre while Black does not.
- How do you learn the Scotch Game?
- This course splits it into 14 drills across 5 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 Game course come from?
- From published work by GM Alexei Bezgodov and Vladimir Barsky, GM Milos Pavlovic 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.