Scotch Game Discussion

This is a place for people to share instructive games in the Scotch and to discuss different variations of the opening. The Scotch is one of my favorites as white, and it would be fun to hear everyone's opinion on it!

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The Scotch is characterized by 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.d4. Lots of interesting options for white after exd4. The main line is the natural move 4. Nxd4. White physically occupies the center and Black will probably attack it with 4...Bc5 or 4...Nf6.
Other common options for white:
4. Bc4, the Scotch Gambit. White leaves the pawn in peace and tries to establish attacking pressure with a lead in development.
4. c3, the Göring Gambit. A gambit that is quite similar to the Danish Gambit.

I play the scotch and my least favorite is to face the 4... Nf6 line. I believe the main line there is that you go into some endgame where white has N+B for a rook.

I play the Scotch a lot. Most of the time Black will play 4...Nxd4 instead of the 2 moves you mentioned. I am thinking of learning how to play the Scotch gambit to avoid this.
Also 4...Qh4 is another annoying possibility.

@JohnMcC1959 said in #3:
> I play the Scotch a lot. Most of the time Black will play 4...Nxd4 instead of the 2 moves you mentioned. I am thinking of learning how to play the Scotch gambit to avoid this.
> Also 4...Qh4 is another annoying possibility.

Why would you want to avoid 4.. Nxd4? It's a big mistake.

I usually play 4... Qh4 (Steinitz) against the Scotch.
The best move is probably 5.Nc3 here, but a lot of people simply play 5.Nxc6, which is already losing a pawn.
For example 5... Qxe4+ 6.Qe2 Qxe2+ 7.Bxe2 bxc6 (7... dxc6 is also ok I guess)
8.Bf4 d6 9.0-0 Be7 10.Re1 Be6. In this position somebody played 11.b3 (?!) against me, and after
11... Bc3 12.c3 Ne7 13.Bf3 Kd7 Black was simply better.
(g5 and h5 are strong possibilities and White is already in some trouble)

I like Bourbon best.

@DonkeyWinsChess said in #4:
> Why would you want to avoid 4.. Nxd4? It's a big mistake.

I do not know how to capitalize on it. One suggestion that I have found is that I develop my queenside pieces quickly, castle queenside, and launch a pawnstorm on the kingside against my opponent's king.

@Hurluberlu2 said in #5:
> I usually play 4... Qh4 (Steinitz) against the Scotch.

Against this I lose a pawn then the game itself shortly follows.

@JohnMcC1959 said in #7:
> I do not know how to capitalize on it. One suggestion that I have found is that I develop my queenside pieces quickly, castle queenside, and launch a pawnstorm on the kingside against my opponent's king.
>
>
>
> Against this I lose a pawn then the game itself shortly follows.

Chessmood has a very nice free course about the Scotch game, Nxd4 is also covered: chessmood.com/?r=IFH6ci6XcHnUSY2IecbtMPmqGEglmA38

@JohnMcC1959 said in #7:
> I do not know how to capitalize on it. One suggestion that I have found is that I develop my queenside pieces quickly, castle queenside, and launch a pawnstorm on the kingside against my opponent's king.

Nxd4 is like the best thing that can happen - that means they don't know the theory. I play Qxd4/ Nc3 / Bf4 / O-O-O / f3 / g4 and start the pawn storm. Often they play d6 and then c5 to tempo the queen. You just slide the Q back to d2 and then win a free central pawn w/ Bxd6 on the next move.

Also @twitchchessnoah has a good overview on his youtube - couple short videos but they're good.