Scandinavian Defense: Lasker Variation
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3
The Scandinavian Defense: Lasker Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B01, reached after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3. It is a line of the Scandinavian Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 749 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6… Bh5 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.82 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6… Bxf3 7. Qxf3 c6 8. Bd2 Nbd7 9. O-O-O)
- ECO
- B01
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
rn2kb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/q7/3P2b1/2N2N1P/PPP2PP1/R1BQKB1R b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 144 | |
| 1500-1999 | 385 | |
| 2000+ | 220 | |
| All | 749 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Bh5 | 469 (63%) | |
| 6… Qh5 | 137 (18%) | |
| 6… Bxf3 | 108 (14%) | |
| 6… Bf5 | 23 (3%) | |
| 6… h5 | 3 (0%) | |
| 6… Bd7 | 3 (0%) | |
| 6… c6 | 2 (0%) | |
| 6… Nc6 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
589 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 52%, draw 19%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2678) – GM Miguel Munoz (2471) 1-0 · Barcelona GM 2016 · 2016-10-23
- GM Sergei Rublevsky (2702) – GM Miguel Munoz (2441) 0-1 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-14
- GM Vugar Rasulov (2478) – GM David Paravyan (2647) 0-1 · Titled Arena Jan 2nd 2021 · 2021-01-02
- GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2652) – GM Miguel Munoz (2441) 1-0 · World Blitz 2015 · 2015-10-14
- GM Jules Moussard (2635) – GM Miguel Munoz (2449) 1/2-1/2 · VI Closed GM Barcelona · 2021-07-30
Search all games of the Scandinavian Defense: Lasker Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- VipPlayer3000 (2593) – riga2024 (2602) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- IM patryk2001 (2552) – riga2024 (2570) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- milyutinroman (2540) – riga2024 (2560) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Scandinavian Defense: Main Line, Mieses Variation 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5 4. d4 Nf6
More Scandinavian Defense lines (all)
- Scandinavian Defense (1. e4 d5) B01
- Scandinavian Defense (1… d5 2. b3) B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Collijn Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Goteborg System B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Anderssen Counterattack, Orthodox Attack B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Boehnke Gambit B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Bronstein Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Classical Variation B01
- Scandinavian Defense: Grünfeld Variation B01
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.