The Scandinavian Defense Revisited

The fundamental purpose of Black’s aggressive and provocative move with the d-pawn

is to create immediate central tension and to exploit the latent power of the

queen on her starting square. Remember Lasker’s observation: "Black’s idea is to

make use of the great fighting power of the queen in the opening"

Black’s audacious pawn move effectively compels White to lose a tempo by capturing

the pawn, creating an imbalance in the center. Black’s strategy seeks the dissolution

of the center, as the immediate asymmetry reduces the significance of

So, is the Scandinavian, in essence, a ‘refutation’ of 1 e4, as

Black has already activated his queen far ahead of his opponent, while weakening

White’s kingside pawn structure? Isn’t White essentially punished for aiming for

early kingside development with his first move?

Structurally, Black has achieved an ideal exchange, and the core of the Scandinavian

lies in the control of the d5-square. Black must, under no circumstances, allow

White to support a pawn thrust with d4-d5, as this typically means White has effectively

countered Black’s pawn structure both technically and psychologically.