Top 10 Scandinavian Mistakes You MUST Avoid

Introduction

Regular readers will know by now that I have been sharing a lot of videos recently on the Scandinavian Defence - my favourite defence to 1.e4.

Recently, i was looking at the Lichess Opening Explorer, seeing what the most common sequences were after 1.e4 d5 in the 6.2+ billion game database. And it was interesting to see that in most cases, the most common moves were inferior, or even outright mistakes!

Realizing that the vast majority of players don't really know how to play the Scandinavian with either colour, I uploaded a YouTube video on these 10 mistakes, so that you can avoid them in your own games:

https://youtu.be/Ry6NP20xbZg

For those who want to follow along with the Lichess board or just prefer reading, I've also included the 10 Most Common Mistakes down below!

Mistake 1 - Exchanging Pieces As White

The first common mistake that White often makes in the Scandinavian is exchanging the pieces. That's because, the closer we get to an endgame, the less White's space advantage (with the pawn on d4) matters. Not only that, but it also becomes easier for us to attack the d4-pawn, as this continuation (the most common for both sides in Lichess after 1.e4 d5) shows:

Although this ...e6 setup is more passive than the standard ...Bf5/...Bg4 setups, it has been played by some Grandmasters recently in blitz/bullet, as a way to avoid theory and outplay the opponent in the middlegame. It's not as bad for Black as people assumed in the pre-computer era.

Mistake 2 - Letting Our Queen Get Trapped

The second common mistake, this time from Black's point of view, is letting our queen get trapped or lost. When we develop our queen early, especially in the 3...Qa5 main line at master level, we have to be careful that our queen doesn't run out of squares, like in our next example:

Incidentally, this variation is the reason why, in my course 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025', I recommend playing either the modern 5...Bf5 or the old main line of 5...c6 instead (followed by ...Bf5).

Mistake 3 - Not Properly Defending The d4-Pawn

While the d4-pawn may initially quite safe, it can come under heavy fire in the Scandinavian, especially if Black knows about my system that crushes players below 2200:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfGQqaF1StU

This next game sequence is an example of the ideas I showed in that video, with White losing a pawn on move 8 after playing the most common move (according to the Lichess database) on each turn:

I cover this setup in a lot more detail for Black in 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025', along with White's correct continuations to gain an advantage. (Sorry 1.e4 players, I'm not going to give away the solution that easily).

Mistake 4 - Playing The Scandinavian As A System Opening

The Scandinavian is a great opening - my favourite vs. 1.e4, in fact - but some Youtube videos like to sell it as a system opening, where you just play the same first 10 moves no matter what and get a good game.

But that's not the reality - if White delays Nc3 and instead plays the Nf3 setup, then playing it like a system will get Black in rather hot water. For example:

That's why you need to know certain subtleties, such as 3...Bg4!, in order to have the best possible results with this opening (especially against experienced players). I cover 3...Bg4 in detail in 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025'.

Mistake 5 - Developing Too Quietly As White

This may be the most common mistake of all, even among advanced players. The Scandinavian is what I call a 'long-term' opening -> if we are able to complete our development, we will get a nice 'Caro-Kann' type of structure where all of our pieces are well placed, while White is unable to make anything constructive of their lead in development.

If White just develops quietly and doesn't rock the boat, Black will gain comfortable equality, like in the very common sequence below:

White needs to know some concrete ideas and plans to get an advantage against the 3...Qd6 Scandinavian, but most players aren't ready for it at all, as it's not so trendy. Besides, 1.e4 players are usually so preoccupied with the Sicilian, 1...e5, French and Caro-Kann, that they never 'get around' to preparing for the Scandinavian, as they just don't face it as much.

Mistake 6 - Playing Too Passively As Black

Another mistake that Scandinavian players often made (especially in the pre-computer era) was to play too passively, giving White too much of an initiative out of the opening. For instance, the old Centre Counter main lines with 3...Nxd5 followed by either 4...Bg4 or 4...g6 no longer have a good reputation, as White gets too much space and initiative with natural moves. For instance:

We have seen that a lot of White's success against the Scandinavian revolves around playing against the light-squared bishop. That priyome won't guarantee you success against a student of 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025', but it will give you a head start against nearly everyone else.

Mistake 7 - Playing Too Passively As White

Subverting the previous mistake, I've found many times in my online games that my opponents meet the Scandinavian way too passively. Faced with an early surprise, they back down from confrontation and just try to get a 'safe' position out of the opening. But in doing so, they hand over the initiative to Black, like in the following very common sequence:

If every one of my opponents played 3.Nc3 as White, I'd never play another defence to 1.e4 in my life. Well, about half of my opponents played it against me online, which is a pretty healthy number :)

Mistake 8 - Letting Our Bishop Get Chased

While there are certain cases where we can't help our light-squared bishop getting chased, we'd still prefer not to lose the initiative in such a way, if we can help it.

For instance, we already saw how the Black bishop was kicked around like a soccer ball in Mistake 2. It turns out that delaying the move ...Bg4 with ...c6 first also fails to solve Black's problems:

Even though my past chess trainer, GM Ian Rogers, had success with the ...Bg4 plans in the late 70s and early 80s, it ultimately falls short, and can't be recommended today against prepared opposition.

For the best ways to play the Scandinavian (rather than old-school ways that don't work anymore), check out 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025'.

Mistake 9 - Getting Too Greedy

This mistake from White's point of view especially applies against my favourite gambit vs. 1.e4, the Portuguese Gambit. I already talked about it extensively in this recent video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2yufAfN-XI

However, since recording this video, I noticed a very common trap (actually the most common sequence on Lichess after 3...Bg4 4.f3), where Black checkmates White in just 14 moves!

Here's how it goes:

While you won't always get such a quick checkmate on the board as Black, you do get quite a nice lead in development and attacking chances for the material, even if White defends more strongly. I find that a big reason these sort of gambits work so well below 2200 is because players just really struggle to defend vs. early attacks at that level.

Mistake 10 - Accepting A Bad French/Caro-Kann

I've left the easiest mistake to last, as the advanced students would have zoned out a bit if I had started with this one.

A common mistake (played in over 10% of all the games after 1.e4 d5) is pushing forward with 2.e5, as it allows Black to obtain an improved version of a French/Caro-Kann:

While White doesn't necessarily have to lose a pawn right away, we can see in the 4.c3 sub-variation how Black's bishop, instead of being stuck on c8 in a French, is active on g4, pinning the knight that is defending the d4-pawn. And in a Caro-Kann, Black would need a second move to play ...c6-c5, but here we got in ...c5 in one go.

Summary

To summarize, the 10 most common mistakes to avoid (or punish) in the Scandinavian are:

Mistake 1: Exchanging Pieces As White
Mistake 2: Letting Our Queen Get Trapped
Mistake 3: Not Properly Defending The d4-Pawn
Mistake 4: Playing The Scandinavian As A System Opening
Mistake 5: Developing Too Quietly As White
Mistake 6: Playing Too Passively As Black
Mistake 7: Playing Too Passively as White
Mistake 8: Letting Our Bishop Get Chased
Mistake 9: Getting Too Greedy
Mistake 10: Accepting A Bad Caro-Kann

You can review all of these mistakes again in this Study:

I share these Studies so that players of all levels can learn from my lessons and quickly start trying out the Scandinavian in their own games, without the frustration of learning these mistakes the hard way.

However, the only reason I'm able to share so much free value is because of the students who decide they're ready to take their Scandinavian adventures to the next level, and get the long-term improvement and results they're after.

You don't have to fear 1.e4 ever again - there's so many interesting ways to play the Scandinavian vs. 1.e4, that it can really last you a lifetime.

Find out more about 'Play The Strongest Scandinavian In 2025' here.