Openings · C44–C45

Scotch Game

Open the centre on move three, before Black is ready for it.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4played as White

The idea

3.d4 trades the d-pawn for the e-pawn and opens the position immediately. Black is fine with correct play, which is true of everything; the practical point is that the resulting positions are concrete, and there is nowhere to hide.

It is also a way out of the enormous body of Ruy López theory, which is why it keeps returning to top-level practice.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 30/3

1.e4e5
2.Nf3Nc6
3.d4

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Panicking at 4…Qh4

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Qh4

The mistake: Moving the attacked knight — 5.Nxc6 or 5.Nf5 — when the queen comes to h4.
Why it costs: 5.Nxc6 Qxe4+ picks up the knight and the centre with it. The queen on h4 looks frightening and is not: it is out early, and it will have to move again.
Instead: 5.Nc3, developing and hitting nothing, which is exactly the point — the queen has no target and White finishes developing with a tempo in hand.

Trading on c6 for no reason

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nxc6

The mistake: Exchanging knights the moment Black's bishop hits the knight on d4.
Why it costs: It gives Black a pawn back in the centre and opens the b-file for the rook. The bishop on c5 was the piece worth arguing with, and the exchange stops arguing.
Instead: 5.Be3 or 5.Nb3, both of which put a question to the bishop.

Pushing e5 in the Scotch Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5

The mistake: Advancing the e-pawn to kick the knight without having looked at …d5.
Why it costs: 5…d5 hits the bishop and opens the centre while White's king is still in it. This is a main line and perfectly playable — but only for someone who already knows the reply.
Instead: 5.O-O, or 5.e5 with 6.Bb5 already in mind rather than discovered afterwards.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.