Master chess players-moves e4 e5,Nf3 Nc6,d4 exd4,Nxd4 best way for black to play to get equal or better game?

Question

Looking for people of high skill and many games who can answer.

Answer 1

A master?

Define Master.  Yahoo?  USCF?

I was a class C USCF who played the Scotch.

Go for what killed it in Master chess in the 1920's, the four knights.  

1)e4 e5 2)Nf3 Nc6 3)d4 (Scotch) exd4 4)Nxd4 Nc6 5)Nxc6 bxc6 6)Nc3 (Scotch 4 nights)  Black threatens 6)...d4  7exd4 cxd4. and black stands better.

He knows this.  He will try the Mieses variation.  (Look it up it is trap filled.)

It goes 1)e4 e5 2)Nf3 Nc6 3)d4 (Scotch) exd4 4)Nxd4 Nc6 5)Nxc6 bxc6 6) e5 (Meises, not bring out 4th knight).  If 6)... Qe7 (pinning the pawn) 7) Qe2 then his blocked bishop is more painful to him than yours is to you, trust me.

An idiot may recommend 4)... Qh4 (Steinz) or Bc5 (Scotch mainline without the 4 knights).  He knows those lines and would pay you to play them.

In the future he will try the Scotch gambit (look it up) and/or the Goring gambit (It may be Gooring.)

Answer 2

The opening you ask about is called the Scotch Game.

Some class c players would have you believe that the scotch was killed in the 1920s. Kasparov played the Scotch Game during the 80s and 90s and even in his world championship matches with Karpov.

I recommend you play 4....Qh4.  Apparently this makes me an idiot.  

Despite what an earlier answerer says, 4....Qh4 is an obscure line and I can attest that Scotch players do not prepare for it. It is strong and hardly ever played which also gives it surprise value.

This is what John Emms, a young British grandmaster has to say about 4....Qh4.

"The Steinitz Variation with 4...Qh4 is undoubtedly Black's most challenging counter to the Scotch Game. After only four moves White suddenly must fight on Black's prepared territory, and is virtually forced to sacrifice his e-pawn and burn his safe, "positional" bridges behind him. Black provokes an immediate crisis, and brazenly grabs an important center pawn while keeping a compact position without weaknesses. White then has no choice but to look for compensation in the ephemeral world of tempi and development, ever mindful that Black will win almost any endgame. Maximum tension prevails in the razor-sharp struggle that follows, as the two sides play out the age-old chess conflict between Time and Material. The Steinitz Variation is thus an ideal weapon for those who want to win with the Black pieces."

Apparently he is an idiot too.

John Watson, an International Master reviewing a Russian book on 4....Qh4 says :

4...Qh4 in the Scotch Game is a massive and admirable effort. Its author, GM Lev Gutman, deserves some kind of award for incredibly detailed analysis (272 pages) of what is still a rather obscure line (has anyone, for example, played 4...Qh4 against the world's leading Scotch Game player, Garry Kasparov?). I admire this kind of advancement of theory very much".

You can either believe a grandmaster or a class c player who wants you to play an 80 year old line that apparently "killed off" the scotch.

You can go to www.chessbase.com and consult their database of modern 4....Qh4 games to examine lines of play. This is free.

Good luck.

Answer 3

iam the best chess player ever