Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit, Melbourne Shuffle Variation
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. Nc3
The Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit, Melbourne Shuffle Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B01, reached after 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. Nc3. 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 11 times by this move order. White won 45%, 10% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 6… a6 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.43 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 6… a6 7. Ba4 b5 8. Bb3 Nb6 9. Nge2)
- ECO
- B01
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r2qkb1r/pppnpppp/5n2/1B1P1b2/3P4/2N2P2/PPP3PP/R1BQK1NR b KQkq - 4 6- PGN
1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4 4. f3 Bf5 5. Bb5+ Nbd7 6. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 3 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… a6 | 11 (100%) |
Master games
44 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 52%, draw 16%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Pablo Zarnicki (2514) – IM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2399) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Jan Late · 2024-01-23
- GM Yuri Gonzalez Vidal (2546) – IM Abel Fabian Lopez Gonzalez (2338) 1-0 · 29th Carlos Torre Mem · 2017-12-14
- GM Pablo Zarnicki (2514) – IM Aaron Jacobson (2354) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Mar Late · 2025-03-04
- GM Artem Chernobay (2503) – Alexander Kozak (2280) 1-0 · TCh-RUS Major League 2016 · 2016-05-02
- Xiaopeng Zhang (2228) – GM Darwin Laylo (2498) 1/2-1/2 · Hong Kong Open 2014 · 2014-10-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Fritzchen_Fehlzug (2472) – Patersson91 (2316) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- Spueler (2385) – vascodiogo17 (2381) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- MarinovicBozo (2404) – Minauros (2222) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Scandinavian Defense: Portuguese Gambit 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Bg4
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.