Main Line, Mieses Variation

The Mieses Variation arises after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6. Black develops the king's knight at once instead of committing to the standard 4...c6. The move ...c6 remains available later to give the queen a retreat, but holding it back keeps open the choice of setup, including whether the c-pawn is needed at all. Black still aims for ...Bf5 or ...Bg4 and a compact structure, much as in the line with an early ...c6. The variation is linked by name to Jacques Mieses, who played the Scandinavian often and did much to develop its theory.

White's two main replies are about equally common. 5. Nf3 continues normal development. 5. Bd2 breaks the pin on the c3-knight at once, so that the knight can move with a discovered attack on the queen. 5. Bc4 is a less frequent alternative, and the three moves frequently transpose. Engines give White a slight edge, yet in a large sample of online games Black scores marginally better than White.