Turning a scandi into a French

I see no reason at all to avoid the mainline. It’s very good for White. Just develop your pieces to natural squares.

The above highly comprehensive analysis should convince you of the mainline’s strength.

I agree. White is just better after 2.exd5. The only reason you might want to avoid the mainline is if you suspect your opponent is better versed in the Scandi than you. But then 2.e5 is not the way, as most Scandi players will easily exploit the flaws in this essentially 'perfect French defense' transposition. Better is something like 2.Nf3, transposing into a Tennison gambit. The Tennison itself is a pretty dubious line, but it's quite playable on the intermediate levels, and you might catch a Scandi player off guard with it. Also possible is something like what I like to call the "ignore the center" approach with 2.a3 (usually a transposition of the Anderssen Opening, 1.a3). The idea is to allow black to capture on e4, then follow up with Nc3 and play it as a gambit, developing pieces while attacking black's extra pawn. I've seen this tried in blitz games a few times. Pretty risky, but then so is crossing the street. Here's a game from a recent Titled Tuesday. Keep in mind GM Hambleton is rated over 300 points higher than his FM opponent.......

https://www.chess.com/games/view/17156059

Oh yeah! I completely forgot about 2.Nc3, really the only legitimate alternative to exd5. And I even read your post from yesterday! Duh. I was too busy pontificating on these other stupid lines.

Who cares if the opponent is better prepared in the Scandi? Just beat them anyway They can learn all the opening theory in the world but if I play good moves I’ll beat them in the middlegame anyway.

I agree, i usually just take the pawn and I do well against it. People mainly use it as a blitz weapon as they can make fairly brainless moves fast. I feel like switching it up to a french advance could really throw some of them for a loop. 2. e5 is only seen in about 1/45 scandi games, and if they play the scandi as black against e4 Im just going to assume they don't play the french often. I really like the french advance as white lately which is why I started playing e5. If they go right into the milner barry im very confident I will win as I know that one about 10 moves deep.

I don't think I've ever played a closed scandi and that is interesting. I like the devlopment for white but that space disadvantage is not something I would be a fan of.

The Scandinavian is what I play. After 1 e4 d5 2 Nc3 the repertoire book I use gives 2...dxe4 3 Nxe4 Qd5. Surprisingly I have rarely faced 2 Nc3. Maybe once or twice but it's been so long I hardly recall. I don't know the lines at all from lack of playing it. I should go over that chapter.

I think I actually prefer my opponent play 2 exd5 instead of 2 e5. I guess I should be grateful that 2 e5 just about gives black instant equality but I don't like closed games and sometimes wind up in some trouble against 2 e5. I used to be a Caro Kann player, I especially didn't like 3 e5, and these days everyone and their uncles play it. My results have actually been better with the 3...Qa5 Scandinavian even though the Caro Kann is higher tier. Can't say 3...Qd8. 3...Qd6, nor 2...Nf6 worked so well for me though. Shirov's 7 f4 run me away from 3...Qd6. 3...Qd8 is just too defensive even for me. 2...Nf6 I had the highest hopes for and the worst results.

https://friend.chess.com/rFHH2

https://www.chess.com/blog/JokerPrank/good-read

very important links guy

I play the following line:

Taking the pawn is the best move for sure

Clearly the OP has no idea how bad 2.e5 really is. The resulting position has ZERO resemblance of the French Defense. Actually, what you have is a Caro-Kann a full tempo up for Black as he will get in the move ...c5 in one move instead of two.

Like I said above this can transpose into the Milner Barry which is probably going to be an L for anyone that doesn’t know that gambit.

I assume you mean taking the the d pawn, 2.exd5. When I first saw this, I thought you meant the b4 pawn, so 7...Qxb4, which is pretty bad for white. Also, this pawn push can be played immediately after 3...Qa5.

and white usually follows up with Nf3 or d4. It's probably not completely sound, but it can be tricky for black. White has a nice semi-open b-file and the rook trained on b7 to make developing the c8 bishop a bit of a problem for black.

development tends to be of higher value than a pawn or two also

If Black has any clue how to play chess and doesn't just merely parrot moves with zero understanding, you will never get this.

At that point, you are playing Hope Chess. After 1.e4 d5, you are playing the bad move 2.e5?, HOPING that Black will play 2...e6 and be cooperative and allow you to play an advance French with 3.d4.

If Black has any common sense at all, he will know that WAY better than 2...e6? Are 2...Bf5! or 2...c5! The latter, while also good, is more complicated, and so I always suggest the former to amateurs because it is super-easy to understand by comparison.

First, take a look at the Advance Caro-Kann, Short Variation

Now let's compare this to the Scandinavian with 2.e5??

Black's pieces and pawns are the same in both cases. It is White to move in both cases. However, in the latter, White has played 1 less move. How did he lose the tempo? In the Caro-kann, Black had to move the c-pawn twice to get it to c5.

One of the benefits of the French is you get c7-c5 in one go. The downside is the bad Bishop is behind the pawn chain.

One of the benefits of the Caro-Kann is you get the Bishop outside the pawn chain. The downside is, in order to get in ...d5 without throwing your Queen out there early, you have to play 1...c6 and later on play 5...c5.

After 1.e4 d5 2.e5??, Black gets the best of both worlds. He gets the Bishop outside the pawn chain like the Caro, AND he gets the move c7-c5 in in one go, hence making 2.e5 a really bad move, and White instead needs to take on d5. The only other alternative, which is equal but gives Black no problems, is 2.Nc3. But only 2.exd5 will get White an advantage.

Ahhh yes. And the diagram below depicts the Ruy Lopez

Is this not the french defense paulsen attack transposed from the scandi after e6? I realize the game i posted is actually more like a caro kann but none of it is really theory after like move 3. Its a very similar position regardless... and I wouldnt really say getting the caro kann short position as white is a blunder , as a caro kann player. I acknowledge the main line of the scand is better for white, i am just sick of it and would rather play a game the way i want to play it than the way black wants to play it. I've been doing this for a few weeks and have beaten players everywhere from 1700-2300 with 2. e5. It's not a blunder, not even an innacuracy.

This was more of a throwaway post on my end than anything else, sorry to bother. However, the fact that the pawn structure was similar to what you might see in the French doesn't make it a French. Unless there is a direct transposition, even one different move can have drastic effects on the themes and ideas of a given variation (hence the massive differences between Pirc and KID, Benoni and Sicilian, Italian and Bowdler, the list goes on and on).

I mean that's fine, just because it wouldn't be my choice doesn't mean it wouldn't be yours. If you understand the positions and can score well, great. However, it is true that it isn't the objective strongest option.

A more accurate title would be "Turning the Scandi to a structurally worse position for white".

Either 2...Bf5 or 2...c5 are great for Black.