Scandinavian Defense: Main Line
B01 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5
White scores 51.5% here across 1,077 club games — but the 2.9% who answer a3 score 41.9%, 10 points worse.
What White actually plays here
Across 1,077 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, White scores 51.5% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.
| Reply | Games | Share | White scores | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nf3 | 415 | 38.5% | 52.0% | holds up |
| d4 | 307 | 28.5% | 52.9% | holds up |
| d3 | 134 | 12.4% | 49.6% | holds up |
| Bc4 | 77 | 7.1% | 54.5% | holds up |
| a3 | 31 | 2.9% | 41.9% | below the line |
"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.
Is this costing you anything?
A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.