Scandinavian Defense
Chess opening · ECO B01 · 2 half-moves
1. e4 d5
The Scandinavian Defense is reached after 1. e4 d5. It is White's move in the position shown.
It branches from the King's Pawn Game with 1… d5.
How often it is played
The Scandinavian Defense and its variations appeared in 6.1% of games — 182,830 of 3,000,000 rated games sampled from Lichess in September 2026. That makes it number 7 of the openings listed here.
Results
White won 49%, 3.6% were drawn and Black won 47%. These are games between players of every strength and time control, so they say how the opening does in practice rather than how sound it is.
What the engine thinks
Stockfish, at depth 18, evaluates the position at +0.73 — a clear edge for White. Positive numbers favour White; see reading the evaluation bar.
Similar openings
The most-played alternatives — what else could have been chosen around the move where this opening begins.
| Opening | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| King's Knight Opening | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 | 15% |
| Sicilian Defense | 1. e4 c5 | 9.6% |
| French Defense | 1. e4 e6 | 6.4% |
Main continuations
| Variation | Moves | Share of games |
|---|---|---|
| Scandinavian Defense: Mieses-Kotroc Variation | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 | 3.0% |
| Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 | 0.84% |
| Zukertort Opening: Tennison Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. Nf3 | 0.59% |
| Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 c6 | 0.15% |
| Scandinavian Defense: Boehnke Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 e5 3. dxe6 Bxe6 | 0.09% |
| Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense | 1. e4 d5 2. Nc3 dxe4 3. Nxe4 e5 | 0.01% |
| Scandinavian Defense: Zilbermints Gambit | 1. e4 d5 2. b4 | 0.00% |
Check your own games
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