Scandinavian Defense · Chess.com blitz ·
How top-50 Chess.com blitz players play the Scandinavian Defense
308 blitz games where a top-50 Chess.com player had Black and answered 1.e4 with 1…d5. See where the queen goes after 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3, how often they try 2…Nf6 and how it scores. 31 of the top 50 play it.
Scandinavian games
308
Qa5 (3…Qa5)
49%
most played system
Top players' score
65%
vs ~3,000 avg opponents
Key findings
- 31 of the top 50 play the Scandinavian as Black. Pranesh M, Dmitry Andreikin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and 16 others have no games in it. Denis Lazavik, Ediz Gürel, Nihal Sarin and 19 others have fewer than 10 games in it.
- The 3…Qa5 line is the most common system. 49% of 308 games are 3…Qa5 lines. The chart below breaks the rest down by system.
- After 3.Nc3, 3…Qa5 leads. It was played in 150 of the 214 games after 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 (70%), ahead of 3…Qd6 (38 games, 18%).
What Black plays against 2.exd5
Share of each player's games in the Scandinavian. Tap or hover a segment for the count and the score.
- Qa5 (3…Qa5)
- Qd6 (3…Qd6)
- Qd8 (3…Qd8)
- Modern (2…Nf6)
- Other systems
Faded rows: fewer than 20 games.
Table view
| Player | Qa5 (3…Qa5) | Qd6 (3…Qd6) | Qd8 (3…Qd8) | Modern (2…Nf6) | Other systems |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 31 players with games | 150 · 49% · 62% | 38 · 12% · 61% | 21 · 7% · 52% | 34 · 11% · 68% | 65 · 21% · 75% |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 12 · 86% · 87% | – | – | – | 2 · 14% · 100% |
| Magnus Carlsen | 3 · 23% · 100% | 4 · 31% · 75% | – | 1 · 8% · 100% | 5 · 38% · 80% |
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 16 · 80% · 78% | – | – | 1 · 5% · 100% | 3 · 15% · 100% |
| Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 69 · 64% · 56% | 9 · 8% · 22% | – | – | 30 · 28% · 62% |
| Sam Sevian | 3 · 30% · 67% | – | – | 4 · 40% · 13% | 3 · 30% · 100% |
| Tuan Minh Le | 3 · 20% · 83% | – | 10 · 67% · 50% | – | 2 · 13% · 75% |
| Teimour Radjabov | 5 · 50% · 70% | – | – | 3 · 30% · 100% | 2 · 20% · 100% |
| David Paravyan | 7 · 54% · 43% | 4 · 31% · 38% | – | – | 2 · 15% · 100% |
| Ian Nepomniachtchi | – | – | 4 · 20% · 63% | 15 · 75% · 77% | 1 · 5% · 100% |
| System | Games | Share | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qa5 (3…Qa5) | 150 | 49% | 62% |
| Qd6 (3…Qd6) | 38 | 12% | 61% |
| Qd8 (3…Qd8) | 21 | 7% | 52% |
| Modern (2…Nf6) | 34 | 11% | 68% |
| Other systems | 65 | 21% | 75% |
Player by player
The line each player chose most often, and where the queen goes after 3.Nc3.
Hikaru Nakamura
14 games in the Scandinavian · score 89%
Main choice: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 12 games (86%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 12 games; always 3…Qa5
Magnus Carlsen
13 games in the Scandinavian · score 85%
Spreads the games across many systems.
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 10 games and varies the third move: none more than 4 times
Nodirbek Abdusattorov
20 games in the Scandinavian · score 83%
Main choice: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 16 games (80%)
Next: Modern (2…Nf6), 1 game (5%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 18 games; most often 3…Qa5 (16 games)
Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
108 games in the Scandinavian · score 55%
Main choice: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 69 games (64%)
Next: Qd6 (3…Qd6), 9 games (8%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 81 games; most often 3…Qa5 (69 games)
Sam Sevian
10 games in the Scandinavian · score 55%
Main choice: Modern (2…Nf6), 4 games (40%)
Next: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 3 games (30%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 5 games; most often 3…Qa5 (3 games)
Tuan Minh Le
15 games in the Scandinavian · score 60%
Main choice: Qd8 (3…Qd8), 10 games (67%)
Next: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 3 games (20%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 13 games; most often 3…Qd8 (10 games)
Teimour Radjabov
10 games in the Scandinavian · score 85%
Main choice: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 5 games (50%)
Next: Modern (2…Nf6), 3 games (30%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 6 games; most often 3…Qa5 (5 games)
David Paravyan
13 games in the Scandinavian · score 50%
Main choice: Qa5 (3…Qa5), 7 games (54%)
Next: Qd6 (3…Qd6), 4 games (31%)
Reaches the 3.Nc3 line in 11 games; most often 3…Qa5 (7 games)
Ian Nepomniachtchi
20 games in the Scandinavian · score 75%
Main choice: Modern (2…Nf6), 15 games (75%)
Next: Qd8 (3…Qd8), 4 games (20%)
After 3.Nc3: move 3
214 games reached the 3.Nc3 line (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3). Black's third move, player by player.
- 3…Qa5
- 3…Qd6
- 3…Qd8
- Other third moves
Faded rows: fewer than 20 3.Nc3 games.
Table view
| Player | 3…Qa5 | 3…Qd6 | 3…Qd8 | Other third moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 31 players with games | 150 · 70% · 62% | 38 · 18% · 61% | 21 · 10% · 52% | 5 · 2% · 80% |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 12 · 100% · 88% | – | – | – |
| Magnus Carlsen | 3 · 30% · 100% | 4 · 40% · 75% | – | 3 · 30% · 67% |
| Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 16 · 89% · 78% | – | – | 2 · 11% · 100% |
| Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus | 69 · 85% · 56% | 9 · 11% · 22% | – | 3 · 4% · 50% |
| Sam Sevian | 3 · 60% · 67% | – | – | 2 · 40% · 100% |
| Tuan Minh Le | 3 · 23% · 83% | – | 10 · 77% · 50% | – |
| Teimour Radjabov | 5 · 83% · 70% | – | – | 1 · 17% · 100% |
| David Paravyan | 7 · 64% · 43% | 4 · 36% · 38% | – | – |
Move explorer
Starts after 1.e4 d5. Pick all 31 players or one of them, then click a move to go deeper. Rarer moves are grouped as other moves.
- 1.e4
- d5
Scandinavian Defense
308 games · top players scored 65%
Other moves: 1 game
Questions people ask
- What do top players play in the Scandinavian?
- In Chess.com blitz, the top 50 players go into the 3…Qa5 line in 49% of 308 games. Here the 3…Qa5 line means 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5. The rest: the 3…Qd6 line 12%, the Modern Variation 11%, the 3…Qd8 line 7%, other systems 21%, spread over many smaller lines; the biggest is 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3 Nf6, with 15 games.
- What is the second most common system in the Scandinavian?
- The next most played system is the 3…Qd6 line, in 12% of games. Here that means 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6. Next: the Modern Variation at 11%, the 3…Qd8 line at 7%.
- What does Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus play in the Scandinavian?
- In 108 blitz games as Black in the Scandinavian (1.e4 d5), White's most common second move was 2.exd5 (100 games). Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus's main choice was the 3…Qa5 line, 69 games (64%); then the 3…Qd6 line, 9 games (8%).
- What do top players play after 3.Nc3?
- In the 214 games that reached the 3.Nc3 line (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3), the most common third move is 3…Qa5 (150 games, 70%), followed by 3…Qd6 (38 games, 18%).
- Does a high score mean the opening is good?
- Not by itself. Scores also reflect the rating gap between the top players and their opponents. Compare lines by how often the top players choose them, and use the scores as context.
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From up to 1,000 Chess.com blitz games as Black of each of the top 50 players on the leaderboard. 308 of them start 1.e4 d5. A win counts as 1 and a draw as ½, from the top player's side. The games were last refreshed on 30 Oct 2026.
How we counted
We took the Chess.com blitz games as Black of each of the top 50 players on the leaderboard, up to 1,000 each, and kept the ones that start 1.e4 d5. Each game counts under the first rule below that fits it:
- Qa5 (3…Qa5): 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5.
- Qd6 (3…Qd6): 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6.
- Qd8 (3…Qd8): 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8.
- Modern (2…Nf6): 2.exd5 Nf6.
- Other systems: everything else, such as 3.Nf3 or 3.d4 instead of 3.Nc3, 2.Nc3 and 2…c6.
A win counts as 1 and a draw as ½, from the top player's side. Scores also reflect the rating gap: opponents average about 3,000.
The system is Black’s choice after 2.exd5: the queen’s move after 2…Qxd5 3.Nc3, or 2…Nf6. Lines where White plays something else on move 2 or 3 are counted with the other systems. A row or a card built on fewer than 20 games is faded. Players with fewer than 10 games in the opening have no card or row; their games count in the totals.
ChessDrills is not affiliated with Chess.com.
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