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The Scotch Game is an excellent aggressive opening for White, especially for beginners and intermediate players. However, at this level, it does seem to have a tactical weakness for the clever player with Black, with a line named after the first official World Chess Champion, Austrian, and later American, Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900).

So far, I’ve played 16 games on chess.com as Black of the Steinitz Variation of the Scotch Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4) and I’ve not lost a single game (15 wins, 1 draw)! It is, statistically, my single best opening line! As can be seen from my opening statistics on chess.com, I don’t do anywhere as well with other responses to the Scotch.

I’ve received comments before that state that the Steinitz Variation shouldn’t be played as it has been refuted. Now, it is true that it has been refuted, but the reality is that I doubt most players of the Scotch know the refutation line. Moreover, it is far for obvious. So, unless it’s already known by White, it is doubtful that they will find it in-game.

My opponent in this tournament match was quite a bit higher rated than me in both the daily format, and in rapid. However, this game exemplifies how the Steinitz Variation can melt the Scotch in the opening.

The logic with (4… Qh4) is that we are saying that White has over-committed by immediately attacking the centre before development, and that they have inadequate defences around their king, and their pawn on e4. Commonly, White will go down the Modern Variation line (5. Nc3 Bb4), attempting to defend their e4 by developing their knight, but we can then counter that with another aggressive developing move with our bishop, pinning the knight to the king.

In this game, White then under-recognised the immediacy of the threat, opting to develop their bishop (6. Bc4). This was a mistake [-2] as the e4 pawn is hanging and queen captures with check (6… Qxe4+). White needed to trade queens, but this feels unnatural so instead, blocked the check with a seeming bishop developing move (7. Be3), which was another inaccuracy [-3] as the pawn on g2 is hanging (7… Qxg2). And then, pretty much the game-ending blunder, White attempted to attack my queen with x-ray defence of the rook with (8. Bd5). This seems like a great move, except that the bishop’s only “defender”, the knight on c3 isn’t actually defending! White forgot that it was pinned and so in fact, the bishop is straight up hanging and after its capture (8… Qxd5) the evaluation is [-9].

I’m up a full piece and two pawns, White’s pieces are a bit tangled. A rapid trade of pieces later, and White has a broken pawn structure. The simple goal for Black is to not blunder, maintain the piece advantage, and then force a completely winning endgame. My opponent played really well, got a passed pawn all the way to the seventh rank, and I had to be careful to not be forced to trade it for one of my pieces. However, I managed to navigate the position and White resigned soon after reaching the endgame where I was up two pawns and a bishop. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/481086845

[Event "Cellar Dwellers 26 - Round 1"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023.02.20"]
[Round "-"]
[White "CletisMonster"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Tournament "https://www.chess.com/tournament/cellar-dwellers-26"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C45"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Scotch-Game-Steinitz-Modern-Defense"]
[UTCDate "2023.02.20"]
[UTCTime "22:51:16"]
[WhiteElo "1378"]
[BlackElo "1200"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "22:51:16"]
[EndDate "2023.03.01"]
[EndTime "03:08:06"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/481086845"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/2600541.d3c5c578.50x50o.95f16cc01d98.jpeg"]
[WhiteCountry "2"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.82046355.50x50o.c8c8e6b7296c.jpg"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 67:19:27]} 1... e5 {[%clk 70:41:08]} 2. Nf3 {[%clk 55:17:38]} 2...
Nc6 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 3. d4 {[%clk 71:21:52]} 3... exd4 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 4.
Nxd4 {[%clk 70:57:14]} 4... Qh4 {[%clk 72:00:00] Scotch Game: Steinitz
Variation} 5. Nc3 {[%clk 71:07:22]} 5... Bb4 {[%clk 71:17:51] Modern Variation
[+1]} 6. Bc4 $2 {[%clk 68:27:57][%c_effect
c4;square;c4;type;Mistake;persistent;true] A mistake [-2]} 6... Qxe4+ {[%clk
71:13:59]} 7. Be3 $6 {[%clk 55:20:05][%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] An inaccuracy [-3]} 7... Qxg2
{[%clk 69:52:02]} 8. Bd5 $4 {[%clk 67:45:50][%c_effect
d5;square;d5;type;Blunder;persistent;true] A blunder [-9]} 8... Qxd5 {[%clk
69:42:43]} 9. Rg1 {[%clk 54:30:04]} 9... Nxd4 {[%clk 71:17:26]} 10. Bxd4 {[%clk
70:19:39]} 10... Qe4+ {[%clk 69:30:36]} 11. Be3 $6 {[%clk 71:47:05][%c_effect
e3;square;e3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d1e2;keyPressed;none;from;d1;opacity;0.8;to;e2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e2;persistent;false]} 11... d5 {[%clk
71:55:16]} 12. Qd4 {[%clk 58:37:31]} 12... Bxc3+ $6 {[%clk 71:00:43][%c_effect
c3;square;c3;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 13. bxc3 $6 {[%clk
70:19:00][%c_effect
c3;square;c3;type;Inaccuracy;keyPressed;undefined;persistent;true]} 13... Nf6
{[%clk 71:56:23]} 14. Rxg7 {[%clk 66:42:50]} 14... Qxd4 {[%clk 71:48:19]} 15.
Bxd4 {[%clk 69:28:16]} 15... Ne4 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 16. O-O-O {[%clk 62:17:44]}
16... Be6 {[%clk 71:58:21]} 17. f3 {[%clk 70:51:04]} 17... c5 $6 {[%clk
67:31:28][%c_arrow
e4d6;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;d6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d6;persistent;false][%c_effect
c5;square;c5;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]} 18. Be5 {[%clk 69:46:49]} 18...
f6 $6 {[%clk 71:53:39][%c_effect
f6;square;f6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e4c3;keyPressed;none;from;e4;opacity;0.8;to;c3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
c3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;c3;persistent;false]} 19. fxe4 $6 {[%clk
67:57:36][%c_effect e4;square;e4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
e5f4;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;f4;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f4;persistent;false]} 19... fxe5 $1 {[%clk
70:44:25][%c_effect e5;square;e5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 20. exd5
{[%clk 61:59:07]} 20... Bf7 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 21. d6 {[%clk 71:56:49]} 21... Rd8
{[%clk 71:53:29]} 22. d7+ {[%clk 69:21:37]} 22... Ke7 {[%clk 68:02:56]} 23. Rf1
{[%clk 71:44:22]} 23... Rhf8 $1 {[%clk 71:53:52][%c_effect
f8;square;f8;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 24. Rxh7 {[%clk 69:29:27]} 24...
Rxd7 {[%clk 71:59:59]} 25. h4 {[%clk 71:59:39]} 25... Ke8 {[%clk 71:58:45]} 26.
Re1 {[%clk 71:45:54]} 26... Re7 {[%clk 71:25:31]} 27. h5 {[%clk 70:56:13]} 27...
Bxa2 {[%clk 71:55:05]} 28. Rxe7+ {[%clk 71:17:07]} 28... Kxe7 {[%clk 71:58:43]}
29. Rxe5+ {[%clk 70:26:24]} 29... Kd6 {[%clk 71:55:46]} 30. Re4 {[%clk
63:04:24]} 30... Bd5 {[%clk 64:57:32]} 31. Rh4 {[%clk 68:54:25]} 31... Rh8
{[%clk 71:59:15]} 32. Kd2 $6 {[%clk 69:13:45][%c_effect
d2;square;d2;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true][%c_arrow
h5h6;keyPressed;none;from;h5;opacity;0.8;to;h6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h6;persistent;false] [-8]} 32... Rh6
{[%clk 71:56:36]} 33. Ke3 {[%clk 70:19:45]} 33... Bf7 {[%clk 71:59:59]} 34.
Kf4 $6 {[%clk 71:59:42][%c_effect f4;square;f4;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true]}
34... Rxh5 {[%clk 71:58:23]} 35. Rxh5 {[%clk 62:37:54]} 35... Bxh5 {[%clk
72:00:00]} 36. Ke4 {[%clk 66:09:20]} 36... Bg6+ {[%clk 70:48:27]} 37. Ke3 {[%clk
65:09:45]} 37... Bxc2 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 38. Kd2 {[%clk 71:58:31]} 38... Bb3
{[%clk 72:00:00][%c_effect
d6;square;d6;type;Winner,d2;square;d2;type;ResignWhite] [-M13]} 0-1