The Battlefield Is Yours: GM Basso's Complete Scandinavian Repertoire
Every opening gives White choices. The French allows the Advance, the Exchange, the Tarrasch. The Caro-Kann splits into the Panov, the Advance, the classical structures. Black plays the opening, White chooses the battlefield.
Except in the Scandinavian.
GM Pier Luigi Basso's new course on the Scandinavian Defence with 3...Qa5 addresses the central practical problem that ambitious players face with this opening: they drown in sub-variations of 6.Bc4, 6.Ne5, and 6.Bd2, memorizing everything and using nothing.
Basso's philosophy is ruthless about separating what matters from what doesn't—which lines are critical, which are curiosities, and which sidelines you can almost ignore because your opponent will never find the right moves over the board. You finish with grandmaster-level preparation and a clear mental hierarchy of what to rehearse before a tournament and what to leave alone.
The strategic case is simple. The Scandinavian delivers the same "e and c versus d and c" pawn structure as the Classical Caro-Kann or Rubinstein French, but White cannot escape into the Advance, Exchange, or Panov. The structure is fixed from move two. The practical case matters more: this course shows you how to turn this opening into points on the scoreboard.
Why 3...Qa5?
The queen on a5 is the most active and fighting choice. Basso is transparent about the alternatives—3...Qd6 (Tiviakov) and 3...Qd8 are perfectly playable—but Qa5 pins the knight, supports ...Nc6 and ...O-O-O, and offers the richest tactical and strategic ideas. It's also where current development is happening at the highest level, from strong correspondence players to top GMs like Erdogmus. Basso has integrated fresh updates from 2024–2025 correspondence practice, including novelties that haven't yet appeared over the board.
The signature position of the repertoire is the tabiya after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5. Before Black plays ...e6, the light-squared bishop—the problem piece of the entire French Defence—is already developed and active. That's the structural gift of the Scandinavian: you solve the worst problem of this pawn structure before committing to it.
Course Structure and Variation Map
Main Line after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bf5 6.Bc4 e6:
- Chapter 1: 7.O-O and remaining sidelines
- Chapter 2: 7.Bd2 c6—deep forcing sequences, proven to hold with precise correspondence analysis
- Chapter 3: 7.Bd2 Bb4!?—the fighting choice for three-result games
6.Ne5—White's Most Serious Try:
- Chapter 5: 7.g4—direct aggression
- Chapter 6: 7.Bc4—the mainline with ~2,000 games
- Chapter 7: 7.Bf4—surprise weapon (Kramnik, Anand, Nepomniachtchi)
White's Sidesteps:
- Chapter 4: 6.Bd2 and the sharp Dominguez line (6…e6 7.Ne5!? Qb6 8.Qf3 c6 9.O-O-O)—includes a key move-14 novelty
- Chapter 8: 5.Bd2—stopping ...Bf5, Black plays 5...Bg4!
- Chapter 9: 5.Bc4 Bg4!—energetic with 6.f3 Bd7 7.Nge2 c5!
- Chapter 10: 4.Nf3 and the venomous 5.Be2!?—antidote is the rare 5...Nc6!
- Chapter 11: 4.Bc4—counter-intuitive 4...Nf6 5.d3 e6! plan
- Chapter 12: 4.g3—ambitious 4...e5!? (seen in only 50 of 1,800 games)
Early Deviations:
- Chapter 13: 3.Nf3 (co-authored with GM Baadur Jobava)—setup with ...Bg4 and ...Nc6
- Chapter 14: 2nd and 3rd move sidelines (co-authored with GM Baadur Jobava)—2.Nc3, 2.e5, 2.d3, Blackmar-Diemer gambit
Two chapters (13 and 14) were originally prepared with GM Baadur Jobava and have since been updated with Basso's latest analysis. The remainder is Basso's own work, with heavy reliance on cutting-edge correspondence games.
Premium Course Features
This is a Modern Chess Premium course, built as a complete training system:
- 14 theory chapters with video explanations
- 30 test positions—critical moments with tactical and strategic solutions
- 5 training positions for interactive computer practice
- To-Go Version of every chapter—condensed files for pre-game review
- Memory Booster—for long-term recall of key ideas
- Multilingual PGN files—English, German, French, and Spanish
- Full download access—all materials are yours to keep
For players interested in a Black repertoire against 1.d4, the Modern Nimzo-Indian Repertoire series—where Basso collaborated with GM Szymon Gumularz—offers another complete opening system.
The Practical Edge
The tempo White gains by harassing the queen is real. Basso doesn't pretend otherwise. But the course demonstrates, line by line, that the structural certainty you gain is worth far more than the tempo you concede. At every critical branch there are concrete, well-worked-out answers—many with fresh updates from top-level and correspondence practice. That's what turns a sound opening into points on the scoreboard.