Best Scandinavian Defense Courses

The Scandinavian decision is which version to play, because each ChessBase course teaches a different one: the queen retreat to a5, d6 or d8, or the ...Nf6 line. All five single-line courses we could read cost between €27.50 and €32.90 as of 8 November 2026, so choose the line first. ChessMood's Scandinavian course names no side, but its sections are keyed to Black's replies, which suggests a course for White, rated 1800 to 2600 by the seller, so it probably does not serve a club player who plays the defence.

ChessCourseFinder has not joined any affiliate program, so links here earn nothing today. Read our affiliate disclosure.

Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken these courses. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports read on 8 November 2026. How we review explains the limits.

How we picked

After 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Black recaptures with the queen (...Qxd5) or the knight (...Nf6), and the queen then retreats after 3.Nc3 to a5, d6 or d8. We kept courses for Black that name which version they teach, with a dated price and running time. Catalogue research found 15 distinct paid Scandinavian courses (2 are ChessBase "60 Minutes" micro-courses). Counts are lower bounds; Chessable and TheChessWorld could not be fully read. Courses for White against the Scandinavian, such as ChessMood's and a ChessBase 60-minute title for White, are listed separately.

Do you need a course at your level?

Rarely before about 1400, on our reading. Coaches commonly call the Scandinavian a low-maintenance defence, because you aim for a similar type of position against most White set-ups; that is received wisdom, not a measured result or a seller claim. A course helps once White starts to gain tempi on your queen with Nc3, Bc4, Nf3 and Bd2, and you want an answer to each, but a free opening explorer and short studies can cover the main line (Lichess studies and practice, free Chessable courses). We have not verified that any free Scandinavian course is available.

Which version should you learn?

These are the choices the courses make. The right-hand column is coaching opinion and conventional description, not a seller claim, and nobody here has measured any of it.

Sellers disagree partly because they are selling different versions, so read these as positioning. If you are unsure, try 3...Qa5 or 3...Qd6 in casual games first and see which positions you dislike.

The move orders that bypass your queen retreat

Your chosen retreat only happens if White plays 3.Nc3. On Lichess's page for 1.e4 d5 2.exd5, read on 8 November 2026 with default filters, Black played 2...Qxd5 in 71% of games and 2...Nf6 in 20%, so the queen-recapture courses are the main path and the ...Nf6 course is a real alternative rather than a curiosity. Those shares mix all ratings and speeds.

Then come the gaps a sales page may not stress:

• 3.Nf3. The queen is not attacked, so the retreat decision never arises. ChessMood's course lists an introduction episode titled "What if 3.Nc3 or d4", but its page names no episode titles for 3.Nf3. Bauer, Martin and Ris all list 3.Nf3 Bg4 lines, which is the first thing to confirm on any other course.
• 3.d4. Bauer and Martin (2023) both list 3...e5 as the reply.
• 2.Nc3, 2.Nf3, 2.d4, 2.e5. These avoid 2.exd5 altogether. Martin's 2023 page and Zwirs's page list them by name. 2.d4 dxe4 3.Nc3 is the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, which only Zwirs names in those terms, and Martin's page lists 2.d4 as covered.
• After 2...Nf6. White can try 3.c4, 3.Bb5, 3.Nf3 or 3.Nc3 as well as 3.d4. Zwirs lists all of them. His bonus chapter explains why the repertoire is not built on the 3.d4 Bg4 Portuguese Gambit.

Theory load

Low to moderate by coaching convention. The Scandinavian courses we read run 4 to 7 hours, shorter than the Dragon course from Chris Ward (15h 42m on our Dragon page) or the 36h 23m Kan course on our Sicilian page, though a single-line course is not a like-for-like comparison with a full repertoire. Bauer's page argues the opening is rare enough at the top that theory evolves slowly, which is a seller's argument and would also make an older course age better if true. The load varies by retreat: the sellers' own titles call 3...Qd8 "smooth" and 3...Qd6 "sharp", and how much each asks you to memorise is not stated on any page. Check whether a course shows what to do against White's quick attacking set-ups, not just the first ten moves.

Coverage matrix

"Listed" means the seller's page names the line. "Not stated" means no chapter detail was visible. "n/a" means the course does not play that recapture.

Best-documented courses for Black

Prices as shown on 8 November 2026; ChessBase prices are euros as displayed. Cost per hour is our calculation from the listed price and running time, and listed hours are not study time.

Four of the five ChessBase pages give a second running time of "approx. 4-8 hrs" in their delivery lists (the 2009 Martin page gives only "4 hours"), so the figures above are the description figures. Two further ChessBase "60 Minutes" Scandinavian micro-courses at €9.90 (by Martin and Bojkov) are short by design.

The ChessMood course appears to be for White

ChessMood's "Attacking the Scandinavian" is titled as an attack on the defence and its page names no side, but sections keyed to Black's replies point to a White course. Its page lists 3h 41m, 72 episodes, a 1800 to 2600 range (no rating system named), a $250 standalone price and sections keyed to Black's replies, including "3...e5 and 3...c5", "3...Nc6" and "3...Bg4", plus a section on two endgames and a section on 2...Nf6. That is about $67.87 per listed hour as a standalone purchase (our calculation). Our ChessMood pricing page covers plan alternatives. If you play the Scandinavian it shows what White may prepare, but it is aimed at stronger players. Modern Chess also lists a White course, Cheparinov's "Top-Level Repertoire against the Scandinavian Defense" (7h 7m, February 2022, as seen in the series panel on his Scotch page when read earlier on 8 November 2026; we did not open the course itself, and a later re-check of Modern Chess returned HTTP 429, so confirm it on the seller's page).

Who should skip a Scandinavian course

Skip it if you dislike early queen moves, if you already play a defence you like, or if you want a course that states a level for you: none of the pages we read gives one below "Advanced, Tournament player". See Caro-Kann courses and French Defense courses for other ways to answer 1.e4, and low-theory repertoire courses for the broader question.

Free and cheaper routes

Start with the opening explorer on Lichess and a public study for your chosen retreat, and only buy once you know which positions you reach (Lichess studies and practice). Because each course here covers one line, a €30 mistake is mostly a wrong-line mistake: the free steps are to play 20 games with one retreat and note where you leave your preparation. That number is our rule of thumb.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• The five ChessBase courses teach four different lines, so there is no single "best Scandinavian course" and no seller says which retreat suits a given level.
• Andrew Martin has two courses on the same 3...Qd6 line, 14 years apart (2009 and 2023); the pages do not say what changed.
• Four of the five ChessBase pages give a description running time and a different "approx. 4-8 hrs" delivery figure.
• Martin's 2009 page names no sub-lines at all, whereas his 2023 page lists the 3...Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 a6 main line and more than a dozen side branches, so only the newer page can be checked against White's choices.
• The levels shown ("Advanced, Tournament player") do not separate a 1000 from a 1800 player.
• The ChessMood course is rated 1800 and above and appears to be for White (the page names no side), and we found no ChessMood Scandinavian course for Black.