Players looking to change their opening repertoire are faced with a daunting task of having to learn a great deal of opening theory. It's no wonder that many nonprofessional players simply play the same openings their entire career. Truly, the task of learning an opening, like the Najdorf Sicilian from scratch, is a challenging one. Of course, you can always learn a sideline that doesn't require so much knowledge of theory, for example, the O'Kelly variation of the Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6), but then you run the risk of having no real opening after the surprise value is gone. GM Yermolinsky in his book The Road to Chess Improvement, cautions the student about adopting sideline openings, pointing out that this band-aid approach will cripple your chess. His advice is stick to the main lines. But is there no middle ground?

The Scandinavian Defense: The Dynamic 3...Qd6 seeks to address this problem. The author, Correspondence Master Michael Melts, covers a lesser-known sideline in the Scandinavian, or Center-Counter Defense. The opening 1.e4 d5 has a lot of practicality. White really has no good move except to capture on d5. When Black takes on d5 with the Queen, White really has nothing much better that 3.Nc3. Here, Melts advocates 3...Qd6. This line was originally introduced to the chess world by the Polish IM Krzystof in an article in the Chess Player in 1977. Interestingly, it was his wife Bozena who played most of the games with it.

The Scandinavian was championed by Australian GM Ian Rogers in the 1980s and 90s, but he, and other strong players, played 3...Qa5 exclusively. I've known for a long time that 3...Qd6 was a line, but I never realized until recently that strong players were taking an active interest in it. When Chess Informant 81 appeared earlier this year, I noticed that Israeli GMs Kantsler and Gofshtein both had games with this line. Now I have Melts' book in my hands and I realize that a lot of games are being played with 3...Qd6!

It's clear that 3...Qd6 is a very self-directing line, but is it any good? It's much too early to tell. The most critical test, Kasparov - Rogers Batumi 2001, saw the Australian GM essay the line against the former World Champion in the Europe-Asia Rapidplay. After 1e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.f3 Bh5 7.Nge2 a6 8.Bf4 Qd7 9.d5! White had a nice advantage. Rogers, in his notes to the game, in a post script at the end of the book, points out that the main line offered by Melts, 7...c6, is more solid.

Melts has done an outstanding job of gathering together all the available material on this opening. Looking through the examples he presents, one is struck by the number of 3...Qa5 Scandinavian players who have switched over to 3...Qd6. Whether this is due to the dissatisfaction with 3...Qa5, a desire to try something new or simply an attempt to avoid their opponents opening preparation is difficult to say.

The Scandinavian Defense: The Dynamic 3...Qd6 should appeal to experienced practitioners of 1.e4 d5 and stronger players looking for something new against 1.e4. There is a lot of explanatory prose, especially comparing 3...Qd6 with 3...Qd8/a5, but players below 2000 may find the material too dense.

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