Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation (2. exd5 Nf6)
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6
The Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B01, reached after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6. It is a line of the Scandinavian Defense. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 110,521 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nc3 (37% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.53 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 3. d4 Qxd5 4. Nc3 Qa5 5. Nf3 Bf5)
- ECO
- B01
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3P4/8/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 27,729 | |
| 1500-1999 | 67,772 | |
| 2000+ | 15,020 | |
| All | 110,521 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Nc3 | 40,884 (37%) | |
| 3. c4 | 22,422 (20%) | |
| 3. d4 Modern Variation (2… Nf6 3. d4) | 20,274 (18%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 14,312 (13%) | |
| 3. Bc4 | 4,440 (4%) | |
| 3. Bb5+ | 4,006 (4%) | |
| 3. d6 | 1,614 (1%) | |
| 3. d3 | 548 (0%) |
Master games
5,195 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 16%, Black 37%). The strongest:
- LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) – Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-16
- Reckless 0.9.0-dev-b32e0895 (3741) – LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-14
- Stockfish dev-20241208-cf10644 (3683) – LCZero 0.31-dag-f7fb268-BT4-61 (3652) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-12-21
- LCZero 0.31-dag-f7fb268-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20241208-cf10644 (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-12-20
- LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-61 (3631) – Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f71 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Balanced Lines · 2024-08-02
Search all games of the Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM gmbrewchess (2983) – Nana_jede_cevape (2857) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Sunrise34 (2879) – GM Som2310 (2772) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- GM Niksss2023 (2828) – GM Som2310 (2779) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Scandinavian Defense (1. e4 d5) 1. e4 d5
Continuations
- Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation (2… Nf6 3. d4) B01 · 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4
- Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit B01 · 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 e6
- Scandinavian Defense: Panov Transfer B01 · 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. c4 c6
More Scandinavian Defense lines (all)
- 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
- Scandinavian Defense: Gubinsky-Melts Defense 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.