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For player who like the Scotch Gambit as white, what opening do you play as black?

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luozhangzichen

See the question ^

luozhangzichen

I play a lot of Scotch Gambit otb, but I don't really have a fixed opening as black. I want to hear some suggestions from fellow players who often play the scotch gambit too

row56

You can't really gambit as black without being objectively worse (excluding Benko gambit) but if you're looking for an opening which involves tactics, sacrifices and going for mate then the Dragon is perfect. KID against d4 is also in a similar spirit, but there's so many options for white that I like playing the benoni which is more forcing and can result in similar pawn structures and the bishop on g7. You're not going for mate in the benoni but it's sound and can be quite tactical and exciting as you try to avoid getting mated while breaking through on the queenside.

row56
This is the critical line in the Benoni, where white has a very slight advantage and more space but Black has nice control over the dark squares and is looking to shuffle the d7 knight to f8, move the c8 bishop to d7 and breakthrough on the queenside.
row56

And this is an example of some thematic tactics in the dragon:

row56

And here's a beautiful checkmate in the dragon that's analysed in Giri's Dragon course on Chessable:

row56

And some of the tactics that can spring from the benoni:

ibrust

I don't really see the connection between playing the scotch and playing something as black. You can play anything as black.

I suppose if you like formulaic tactical lines such as the Scotch... then it could make sense to play e4/e5 or possibly alekhines... and against d4 you could play something like the budapest or albin countergambit.