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1.Opening

Scotch Game

You play WhiteC45OpenIntermediate

Hit the center immediately with d4. Open lines, active pieces, and fewer forced memorization paths than the Ruy.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 …

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Mieses Variation: position after 9 moves8a7b6c5d4e3f2g1h
Mieses Variation: position after 9 moves
2.Ideas

What the opening is about

Key ideas

  1. d4 on move 3 trades a center pawn and frees your pieces.
  2. Nxc6 + e5 gains space and damages Black's pawns.
  3. Qe2 defends e5 while c4 kicks Black's knight away from d5.
3.Main line

Main line · 17 moves

Mieses Variation

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Your moves Opponent
No. White Black1
e4Grabs the center and opens diagonals for the queen and the light-squared bishop. The most popular first move in chess.
e5Black mirrors White, claiming an equal share of the center and freeing their own queen and bishop.
2
Nf3Develops toward the center and immediately attacks the e5 pawn. Knights before bishops is a good rule of thumb.
Nc6Defends e5 while developing a knight to its most natural square. Black also gains control of d4.
3
d4Strikes the center at once, opening the position before Black is fully developed.
exd4Black takes — the e5 pawn couldn't comfortably be held.
After 3…exd4
After 3…exd4
No. White Black4
Nxd4Recaptures with a beautifully centralized knight.
Nf6Develops and attacks e4.
5
Nxc6Trades so Black has to recapture with a pawn, creating doubled c-pawns.
bxc6Recaptures toward the center. The pawns are doubled, but Black gets the open b-file and ...d5 in reserve.
6
e5Kicks the f6 knight with tempo and gains space.
Qe7Attacks the e5 pawn so White must spend a move defending it.
After 6…Qe7
After 6…Qe7
No. White Black7
Qe2Defends e5. The queens now face each other on the e-file.
Nd5The knight hops into a strong central square.
8
c4Kicks the knight out of the center and grabs queenside space.
Ba6Pins the c4 pawn to White's queen along the a6–e2 diagonal.
9
b3Shores up c4 so the pin doesn't cost anything.
After 9.b3
After 9.b3
4.Play

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5.More

Articles about the Scotch Game

More 1.e4 openings