Opening for White · intermediate
Scotch Game
Open the centre at once with d4 and get quick, active pieces.
Last updated
touch_appPlay the Scotch Game yourself. Make each move for White; the coach explains as you go.
Quick answer
The Scotch Game starts 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4. White opens the centre at once instead of developing a bishop first; after 3...exd4 4.Nxd4 White keeps a pawn on e4 and gets quick, active pieces. Garry Kasparov brought it back into top-level play in the 1990s.
Who should play it
Players who like open positions and clear plans, and who want to avoid the long theory of the Ruy Lopez. A good next step after the Italian Game.
Move by move
- 1. e4
1.e4 takes the centre and opens lines for the queen and the light-squared bishop.
- 1... e5
Black claims an equal share of the centre.
- 2. Nf3
2.Nf3 develops towards the centre and attacks the e5 pawn.
- 2... Nc6
Black defends e5 with the knight.
- 3. d4
3.d4, the Scotch! Instead of developing a bishop first (Bc4 or Bb5), White challenges e5 at once.
- 3... exd4
Black takes on d4: the main answer, and Stockfish's choice too. Defending e5 with ...d6 instead gives White more space.
- 4. Nxd4
4.Nxd4. White has the e4 pawn in the centre, Black has no centre pawn left, and White's pieces have open lines.
What club players answer
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, these are the moves White meets most often at club level, weighted the way our bots choose them so they play like people.
The plan after the opening
Plan: develop quickly (Nc3, a bishop, castle) and use the space the e4 pawn gives you. Black's main answers are 4...Bc5, which attacks the knight on d4, and 4...Nf6, which attacks the e4 pawn.
How to remember it
Knight out, then d4 at once, then take back with the knight.
Variations to know next
Opening code C45, Scotch Game.
The lesson line is the main road; most games leave theory soon after it.
Practise tactics from this opening
extension3 rated puzzles from real games that started with the Scotch Game, easiest first. Each one checked by Stockfish: find the best move.
- 1. Rated 967 · White to move · mate in 1 · Lichess puzzle cVJhU
- 2. Rated 1,421 · Black to move · discovered attack · Lichess puzzle tJo87
- 3. Rated 2,112 · Black to move · sacrifice · Lichess puzzle tyuig
Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Related openings
The Scotch Game is C45 in the ECO classification. Other openings in the C40-C49 family:
- Latvian Gambit (C40): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5
- Philidor Defense (C41): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6
- Petrov Defense (C42): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
- Scotch Gambit (C44): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
- Three Knights (C46): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3
- Four Knights, Scotch (C47): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4
- Four Knights, Spanish (C48): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5