Scandinavian Variation, Advance Variation

With 3. e5, White declines to resolve the central tension by exchanging and instead pushes past Black's d-pawn, gaining space and fixing a pawn chain on d4 and e5. It is regarded as White's principal option against the Scandinavian Variation. The resulting center looks like the French Defense, but with two differences. Black has not yet played ...e6, so the light-squared bishop can still develop outside the chain. The knight on c6, however, stands in front of the c-pawn and rules out the ...c5 lever that normally drives Black's counterplay against such a center. Much of the opening's character follows from this trade-off.

The most popular reply, chosen in nearly half of all games, is 3...Bf5. The usual continuation 4. c3 e6 gives Black a French structure in which the bishop has already escaped, an improvement on the standard French in that respect. Because ...c5 is unavailable, Black has to look for play elsewhere, and White, with c3 supporting d4, keeps a stable center and more space.

The engine's first choice is 3...f6, the second most common move. It strikes at the head of the chain at once, using the f-pawn as the substitute for the missing c-pawn break and inviting White to clarify the situation on e5. The third option, 3...e6, enters a French-type structure with the light-squared bishop still inside the chain. Of the three main replies it gives White the best practical results.

The engine assesses the position as slightly better for White. The positions are complex and unbalanced, and Black keeps genuine winning chances. Practical results bear this out: White scores only slightly better than Black over a large body of online games, and draws are unusually rare, at under four percent.