The Scotch Game: A White Repertoire

by Alexei Bezgodov, Vladimir Barsky

Overview

Tried and True for More than Two Centuries

The Scotch Game is a solid opening that has been tried and tested in practice by some of the strongest chessplayers in the world for more than two centuries. The idea behind the Scotch Game is simple and easily understandable. White eliminates – in a purely mechanical fashion – Black’s e5-pawn which initially impedes his ambition to dominate in the center.

This is very appealing for White, as he controls the direction of the struggle’s development, while Black can only try to keep pace. Furthermore, there are relatively simple schemes in the white repertoire in which it is enough to remember the main plans of both sides and typical maneuvers.

This is the second edition of Vladimir Barsky’s book that first appeared in 2009. The new edition consists of seven chapters dealing with the core ideas and variations of the Scotch, supplemented by 79 Illustrative Games. The authors not only present detailed analysis of all lines but are also careful to discuss the ideas behind the opening. If you already play the Scotch, you need this book. If you don’t, find out what you have been missing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949859584
Publisher:	Russell Enterprises, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/27/2023
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Grandmaster Alexei Bezgodov won the Russian Championship in 1993, and finished second in 1999.He is the author of many books, including The Art of the Tarrasch Defense, The Liberated Bishop Defense, Extreme Caro-Kann, The Double Queen’s Gambit, and Defend like Petrosian.

International Master Vladimir Barsky is a respected journalist and trainer. Among the books he has written are A Modern Guide to Checkmating Patterns, The Ragozin Complex, The Modern Philidor Defense, and A Universal Weapon 1.d4 d6.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 2
Black Gives Up Space
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4

[diagram]

In this second chapter we shall study two perfectly logical lines where Black avoids a direct battle for the center and goes for harmonious development of his kingside pieces. These continuations are not too popular on the highest level, but occur rather frequently in the games of young talents and adult amateur players because they do not require deep theoretical knowledge.

Let’s clarify one important point immediately. These two variations can transpose into each other or be played independently. For instance, after 4...d6, Black will not be able to play ...d7-d5 in one move, but he nevertheless retains other resources.

With 4...g6, Black immediately puts his cards on the table. 4...d6 is more flexible, Black still can develop his bishop both to g7 and e7 (and from e7 it will still be able to get to the long diagonal later – on every move White will have to deal with the possibility of ...Nf6-d7 and ...Be7-f6).

To make your study of the Scotch Game easier, we propose to meet 4...g6 and 4...d6 the same way: 5.Nxc6. After 5...bxc6, a typical pawn structure occurs that we shall see repeatedly in this opening.

[diagram]

White has the more flexible pawn structure, he controls more space (which will become even more obvious after f2-f4 or even c2-c4). Black’s doubled c-pawns and the isolated a7-pawn are potential weaknesses. On the other hand, his c- and d-pawns cover the entire center, and Black can vary his pawn structure: he can either go for the d5-break or put his pawns on d6 and c5 and the bishops on b7 and g7. The latter structure is especially important if White plays c2-c4 – in this case, Black will fight for the central d4-square. All in all, a positional struggle lies ahead, full of various subtleties.

We will not try to evaluate Black’s chances here. The only thing that’s clear is that White still has the better prospects in both cases.

(A) 4...g6 5.Nxc6

5.Nc3 is another good move for White, but then we will have left the territory of the Scotch and entered the “land” of the Three Knights’ Game. There is nothing wrong or unusual in this – such things happen all the time, and even players themselves often fail to notice that they have accidentally crossed the “border.” However, an opening monograph should not contain chapters devoted to other openings, and it would be unfair to refer the readers to other books. So, let’s continue playing the Scotch!

5...bxc6