Scotch Game Steinitz Variation

The Steinitz Scotch is a bad variation for black if white knows it. If he doesn’t… it can be very tricky to face.

The Steinitz Variation is a rarely used sideline for black, but it can come as a nasty surprise. Black develops his queen to h4, aggressively looking at the f2 pawn and immediately attacking e4. Those are threats white has to deal with immediately. The natural Bd3 fails because the d4 knight is hanging.

Qd3 which defends both is also a bad move because it justifies the early queen development and allows black to develop and castle normally. The only way to play for white is to gambit e4 and allow black to capture. This might seem counter intuitive, but it gives white a tremendous initiative and pressure on black’s position.

White continues by creating a threat of his own and developing rapidly. If white plays correctly, black is in trouble. The engines give the position as much better for white and practice has shown that white easily wins the majority of the games.

If you play the Scotch, the Steinitz Variation is a line which you must be aware of and you have to know how to punish. The good news is that once you do, you shouldn’t have much trouble!

Any support is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

The next tournament abroad I plan to play is at the start of July in Slovenia.

Thank you for the support so far!

Jakub S., Francisco R., Simon F., Ken A., Debbie and Brian T., Philip D., Alexandre M., Pascal S., Daniel N.

#chess

[Minerva]

I faced it and got crushed😅 been playing the scotch for 2 years and it was the first time I faced it. Thanks for the video

[nickycoats]

All I can say is that the Steinitz absolutely slays at the 1200 level. Surprisingly, no one knows how to respond. They usually play Nxc6 and are a pawn down and behind in development.

[ironicusername]

I used this and won 2 games straight. Very tricky, thank you. All the way from South Africa. 😂

[ArgieHandle]

Good luck in the tournament and enjoy your time off in paradise :)

[carlosemmanuelriosrobles]

Hey, I am mexican and I am so glad to met this channel that others in spanish have not content like this I can just search the opening or something I wanna watch and there is a content that you already make, thanks a lot for your work :)

[joshuaphillips]

Thanks for the video, will have to rename it the weed whacker variation due to the neighbors.

[aadityabedi]

Sir please do English Opening
It’s a request🙏

[Danthemanfromny]

BTW, The noise, though distracting to you is nearly unnoticed by the audience. Don't worry about it.

[anasmokhtari]

Nice video and good luck in the Croatian cup tournament

[michaelvanzyl]

The most interesting variation I would say

[renaissancerachnavali]

Hey stejpan does it resembles waywand attack with opposite colours

[kunalbhojane]

in the Nb5, Bc5 variation, after white plays 7. Qe2...and black responds with 7....Nf6, why not for white 8. Nc7 winning exchange by taking rook? instead you suggest Be3. any reasons?

[bogomirvelickovic]

Could you do a series on the kings indian defense?

[SomeDumbTrucker]

3:50 Bishop f6?!?! What you mean knight f6?!

[oakleysierney]

I really hate openings where you go down material and get doubled pawns and they say it's great for you. Ugh.

[mikegee]

He finally started talking about the opening at about 2:00 or so. Just sayin'...