Alekhine Defense: Scandinavian Variation with 3.d3 — Black's Guide

After 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d3 e5, you have forced White to choose how to handle the tension in the centre. Your last move, 3...e5, stakes your own claim in the middle and challenges White's control of d4. This is not a cowardly opening: Black aims for a balanced fight, not a fortress. The engine rates the position at -0.21, which favours Black by a hair — meaning you are the one with the tiny edge. You have already achieved a respectable centre and active piece play. The rest depends on how White resolves the pawn on d5. Your main job is to be ready to recapture cleanly and develop your bishops to active squares.

Stockfish's top choice is exd5, the capture. After 4.exd5 Bb4 5.Bd2 O-O, Black has castled quickly and developed with a pin on the knight. This line flows naturally: you trade your d-pawn for White's e-pawn, then harass the knight on c3 and tuck your king to safety. From here you can follow up with ...Re8, ...Bg4, or ...Nbd7 depending on White's response. The position remains balanced — neither side has a clear plan forced upon them. The most-played move at the board is also 4.exd5 (102,670 games), and White scores only 45.3% from there, so the engine and the crowd agree.

Across 262,571 games that reached this exact position, Black scores an impressive 51.4% — significantly above the usual opening average. White wins only 44.2% of the time. Among the five most popular moves for White, the lowest White winning percentage comes after 4.f3 (only 39.0% for White, played in 10,317 games). Wait — that sounds good for Black, right? Actually, 4.f3 is flagged as an inaccuracy: it loses roughly 0.8 pawns of evaluation compared to the best move (4.exd5). So while the raw results look inviting, the engine thinks 4.f3 makes White's position worse. From your perspective as Black, that means 4.f3 is a mistake you should be ready to punish. The other continuations — 4.Bg5, 4.Nf3, 4.f4, and 4.Nxd5 — all keep the game in the normal-to-good range for you.

If White plays 4.f3, the evaluation swings in your favour by about 0.8 pawns. Why is this move weak? It weakens the kingside dark squares, blocks the g1 knight's best square, and does nothing to resolve the central tension. The right approach for you is to take over the centre immediately. A natural plan is ...dxe4 (opening the d-file and freeing your pieces) followed by ...Bc5, pressuring f2 and getting your bishop to a strong diagonal. You can also consider ...exd4, opening lines against the weakened king. The database already shows White scoring just 39.0% after 4.f3 — a number that drops even further if you know how to respond. Use the drill below to practise the exact reply until it's automatic.