The Scotch Game
Most 1.e4 e5 openings spend five moves deciding when to open the centre. The Scotch does it on move three and gets straight to a game of chess. Step through it, then play it.
Last updated
- First moves
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
- ECO
- C45
- Best for
- White
- Style
- Aggressive
- Theory
- Light
- Level
- Beginner
The Scotch Game is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, and its whole personality is in the timing. The Italian and the Spanish both prepare d4 for several moves before playing it. The Scotch plays it now, before Black has developed a single piece past c6.
Black cannot hold e5 - 3...d6 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ takes the castling rights with it - so 3...exd4 is close to forced, and the game that follows has open lines, a knight on a great central square, and no memorised theory to speak of.
The main line
The Classical Scotch - 4...Bc5, the pin on d4, and the little manoeuvre that unpins it. Step through all thirteen moves.
Now play White's side. The moves are the same, but the board answers back.
You are White, four moves in, and Black's bishop is hitting your knight on d4. Hold the square and finish developing.
The Mieses Variation: doubled pawns for a big centre
Half your opponents will meet 4.Nxd4 with 4...Nf6, hitting e4 rather than the knight. White's most testing answer trades on c6 and pushes past.
The Mieses Variation - White wrecks Black's queenside pawns and takes the centre.
The trap you must not fall for
The Scotch has no famous losing line for White - but it has one very common one, and it comes on move four. Some opponents answer 4.Nxd4 with 4...Qh4, attacking e4 and eyeing f2. It looks terrifying for about half a second.
You are White. The e4-pawn is genuinely hanging. Find the move that defends it without helping Black.
Black's queen came out on move four and hits e4. Defend the pawn AND develop - one move does both.
The plans, for both sides
White's plans. Hold d4 with pieces, not just the knight: Be3, c3 and sometimes Nb1-d2 all support the same square. Then castle and choose - trade on c6 to leave Black with doubled pawns, or keep the knight and play against the half-open d-file. The bishop on c4 is always looking at f7, and the queenside majority left after Nxc6 is a real long-term asset.
Black's plans. Get the pieces at that d4-knight: ...Bc5 and ...Qf6 both hit it, and if White ever has to trade, the resulting queenless positions are comfortable. In the Mieses Variation the two bishops and the open b-file are the compensation for the doubled c-pawns - play ...Ba6 and ...O-O-O and aim at c4 and the queenside.
The tactics that decide these games are the ones every open position produces: the fork on c7 when a knight reaches b5, the pin of a knight on d4 against the bishop behind it, and the early queen raids that the Scholar's Mate page teaches you to punish rather than fear.
For the same first two moves with a slower, richer middlegame, see the Italian Game and the Ruy Lopez.
Try it
Move three. Play the move that makes this the Scotch.
The Scotch is the 1.e4 e5 opening for players who would rather understand a position than remember one. Three moves in, the theory is over and the game has begun - which is the fastest route there is from opening principles to real chess.
Common questions
- What is the Scotch Game?
- The opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, which strikes at Black's e5-pawn with a second pawn instead of manoeuvring around it. After 3...exd4 4.Nxd4 the centre is half open, White's knight sits on a strong square, and both sides have to play chess rather than recall theory. It is named after a correspondence match between Edinburgh and London begun in 1824.
- Is the Scotch Game good for beginners?
- Yes - it is one of the best 1.e4 openings to start with. The centre is resolved immediately, so no one has to judge a tense pawn structure; the pieces have obvious squares; and there is almost no forced theory to memorise past move six. The trade is that the position simplifies early, which suits a player who wants to develop, castle and play, rather than build slowly.
- Why did Kasparov revive the Scotch?
- Because it dodges the Ruy Lopez's enormous body of preparation. In his 1990 world championship match against Karpov, Kasparov used the Scotch to reach fresh middlegames where his opponent's memorised Spanish lines were worth nothing. That single decision took the opening from a nineteenth-century relic back to the top boards, where it has stayed.
- What is the difference between the Scotch Game and the Scotch Gambit?
- In the Scotch Game White recaptures on d4 with the knight: 3...exd4 4.Nxd4. In the Scotch Gambit White does not recapture at all - 4.Bc4 or 4.c3 offers the pawn to gain time and open lines. The gambit is sharper and often transposes into Italian Game positions; the Scotch Game proper is the sound, positional version.
- How does Black answer the Scotch?
- The two main answers are 4...Bc5, hitting the knight on d4 and daring White to defend it, and 4...Nf6, striking at e4 and inviting the Mieses Variation with 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5. Both are completely sound. What does not work is grabbing at White's centre with the queen: 4...Qh4 looks aggressive and simply loses time after 5.Nc3.
- Does the Scotch lead to a draw?
- It has that reputation because the early trade removes a pair of pawns and the position looks symmetrical - but the pawn structures after 4...Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 are anything but balanced, and the Mieses Variation leaves Black with doubled c-pawns and White with a space advantage. Simplified is not the same as level.
Ideas this opening runs on:
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