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Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4)
How do Scotch Game games actually end? Across 40,877 Lichess games that reached the position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, White won 52.7%, 4.6% were drawn and Black won 42.7%. Below: the main line move by move, the most played continuations (the favorite is 3...exd4), the rating effect and the opening's history.
The main line, move by move
| Move | Position name | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.e4 | King's Pawn Game | 1,601,410 | 49.2% | 4.3% | 46.4% |
| 1...e5 | King's Pawn Game | 597,216 | 52.1% | 4.1% | 43.7% |
| 2.Nf3 | King's Knight Opening | 369,885 | 52.3% | 4.3% | 43.4% |
| 2...Nc6 | King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation | 233,946 | 50.9% | 4.4% | 44.7% |
| 3.d4 | Scotch Game | 40,877 | 52.7% | 4.6% | 42.7% |
| 3...exd4 | Scotch Game | 35,660 | 51.4% | 4.7% | 43.9% |
| 4.Nxd4 | Scotch Game | 25,633 | 49.4% | 5.0% | 45.6% |
| 4...Bc5 | - | 7,909 | 47.3% | 4.6% | 48.1% |
The 5 most common continuations (for Black)
| Move | Variation | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3...exd4 | - | 35,660 | 51.4% | 4.7% | 43.9% |
| 3...d6 | - | 2,274 | 60.2% | 4.8% | 35.0% |
| 3...Nf6 | - | 583 | 61.4% | 3.8% | 34.8% |
| 3...Nxd4 | - | 478 | 60.0% | 2.7% | 37.2% |
| 3...Bd6 | - | 477 | 59.1% | 3.1% | 37.7% |
How rating changes the same position
| Rating band (average of the pair) | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600-1799 | 26,029 | 53.1% | 4.2% | 42.7% |
| 2200-2499 | 478 | 45.6% | 5.6% | 48.7% |
The story of the opening
The Scotch got its name from a correspondence match between Edinburgh and London that began in 1824: the Scottish club adopted 3.d4 and won the contest, christening the opening. The idea is to open the center at once, skipping the Ruy Lopez's long maneuvering, and resolve the central tension by move four.
After nearly a century in storage, considered too simple for the elite, it enjoyed one of the most spectacular resurrections in opening theory: Garry Kasparov pulled it out of the attic for the 1990 World Championship match against Anatoly Karpov, proving there was fresh venom in the open positions. Since then the Scotch has been a regular choice for players who want to escape the encyclopedic theory of the Ruy Lopez without giving up active play as White.
Compare it with every other opening in the opening statistics archive, or visit its neighbors: King's Gambit and Vienna Game. Nerd aside: chess notation is a 64 square code, cousin to the ones living next door, like binary and Morse.
Source: the Lichess open game database (database.lichess.org, CC0 data), months 2014-06, 2015-01, 2016-01, snapshot of 2026-07-09: blitz, rapid and classical games with the players' average rating between 1600 and 2199, aggregated by move sequence. Variation names and ECO codes: lichess-org/chess-openings (CC0).
Last updated: · Methodology and sources