The chess blogosphere is growing rapidly and I have trouble keeping up with all these chess blogs. Quite often I am reading posts written by other bloggers mentioning interesting stuff from blogs that I had no idea that they exist. I guess there is nothing I can do about this unless I want to spend an enormous time reading chess blogs. However, a week or so ago Jack Le Moine contacted me to make me aware of the first ever chess blog carnival. Quite frankly, I don't even know exactly what a blog carnival is. Apparently, bloggers can submit posts from their blog that are then showcased at the carnival host site. It might be a good opportunity for seeing some examples from other chess blogs without having to dig through the dusty corners of the Internet, so I decided to submit a post myself and make some advertisement here (although I guess that my readers are mostly the bloggers whose blogs I read anyway, so announcing the carnival here might not be that efficient for finding overlooked chess blogs. Anyway, if you have a chess-related blog yourself, consider to submit a post.

And while I am writing about blogging instead of chess - October 15th is Blog Action Day. So what is that about? On that day, bloggers will unite and publish something about the environment. Well, I guess chess is a relatively "green" sport (if you do not consider the excessive use of paper caused by chess book addiction). Nevertheless, I kinda like the idea to bundle the publishing power of thousands of small time bloggers to inform people about a really important issue instead of the fine points of the Scandinavian defense.

But let's get back to the stuff that truly matters: does anyone have experience with the 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 line in the Scandinavian Defense? There is a video at chesslecture.com touting the 3.Nf3 line as the weapon against the queen-pushing Scandinavian lines. I never encountered it in my games, though.

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written by Atomic Patzer, August 22, 2007

Sciurus,

I got it once. It was in rnd 2 of the US Open. I thought she had never seen the opening before but after watching that video I realized she knew something that I didn't know. I did get a good game and won so it may not be a refutation of the Scandinavian. I intend using it myself.

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written by likesforests, August 22, 2007

I've faced it before. With 4.Nf3 White develops and delays committing his d-pawn or light-squared bishop. Black can handle this by playing his own delaying / developing move... 4...Nf6. Black scores 45% in the 4.Nf3 Nf6 line so this is hardly a refutation. And now White will return to mainlines (5.Nc3) or commit himself (5.Be2, 5.d4, 5.c4) after which Black can organize his defenses optimally.

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written by Sciurus, August 22, 2007

Thanks for the comments, guys! I watched the Scandinavian video at chesslecture and White's main motivation for not playing Nc3 early on seems to be that the c-pawn is not blocked and thus can be pushed to achieve greater control of the center.

Likesforests: if Black still scores 45% in this variation than it seems to be hardly better for White than playing the "normal" Nc3. Didn't know that you play the Scandinavian, too. Seems many bloggers do!

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written by likesforests, August 22, 2007

Sciurus, I just watched the video. While 4.Nf3 by itself is not too strong, his full repertoire is formidable. I guess I have to pin my hopes on that my opponent (a) has not watched this video, (b) watched it but didn't learn all the variations, or (c) spent so much time on openings I can crush them tactically or in the endgame. Chessbase also published a supposed refutation a few years ago, and the Scandinavian is still alive and kicking in class play. If I ever became a master I might switch to its more respectable cousin, the Caro-Kann.

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written by Sciurus, August 22, 2007

Likesforests:
On the first sight, it also looked impressive to me. However, I did not have the time to watch it more carefully. For now I am not too worried because at my level, games are usually decided by big blunders and not the opening. However, i was thinking lately to look at an alternative to the Scandinavian, because the way I personally play it I often get the feeling that my position becomes too cramped, but that might be personal incompetence, too.

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