1. Is there anything wrong with this "Transposing" Move-order? To Swap Moves 2 & 3!

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4

Key Position:



2. What are Black's Options:

If:

4. ... Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Idea: Bd5! Advantadge: White.

4. ... Nf6 5. e5 Ng4 6. 0-0 Advantadge: White.

4. ... Nf6 5. e5 d5 6. ??? Advantadge: Black. (I NEED a Line for this Situation, Help Please!)

4. ... Bc5 5. c3 Advantadge: Probably White.

Actually, I think this Line is Better for White because it avoids Black playing d5... any thoughts?

4. ... Nf6 5. 0-0! Nxe4 6. Bd5 Nf6 7. Re1+ Be7 8. c4

Except: Even though Black has Wasted Tempo, Because of the pawn Advantadge s/he has... is this Line even Good for white... who is Winning??? Note: I find it Difficult to make White Work here... even though I feel that this Line Demonstrates a Great Idea!!

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 is a transposition from the Center Game into the Scotch Game, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 is preferable I guess, both move orders work fine. Play 2.Nf3 and you need to be ready for the Petrov, play 2.d4 and you can expect Bb4+ and c5.

At any rate, the Scotch Gambit:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4

A)
4... Nf6 5.e5 Ne4 6.Bd5 (This has been played before I think.) 6... Nc5 7.O-O Ne6 8.c3 dxc3 9.Nxc3 d6
As opposed to 9... Be7. I'd be surprised if white gets more than a microscopic edge.

B)
4... Nf6 5.e5 Ng4 6.O-O d6 7.exd6 Bxd6 8.Re1+ Kf8
Again, if black has a clue what he's doing, he'll be fine, I don't believe white has any real advantage other than maybe his (subjective) 'playing comfort'.

C)
4... Nf6 5.e5 d5 (I play this myself, it's so principled, can't go wrong here.) 6.Bb5 (Only move really, 6.exf6? dxc4, there all roads lead to hell and other moves are seriously inferior to Bb5.) 6... Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 (The black player who likes living dangerously may try 7... Bc5, which can transpose.) 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.O-O Bc5 10.f3 Ng5
Etcetera. Black needn't be a wizard here, again a pretty much equal game.

D)
No idea about 4... Bc5, probably a small advantage to white, the same kind of e5-d5, Nxe4-Bd7 thing can come in there too though.

E)
4... Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Bd5 (6.Re1 is the established move.) 6... Nf6 7.Re1+ Be7 8.c4 (Black will like this. White lost two pawns, he'll only get one back for the moment.) 8... dxc3 (Principled, let's trade down, the king is fairly safe, white has just as many undeveloped pieces.) 9.Nxc3 O-O
I don't think white has any compensation for the pawn. If white still had one of the center pawns, this would be approximately equal, it isn't now though..

In Part E- (9... Nxd5 10. Nxd5 O-O
11. Nd4 Bf6 12. Nb5 Be5 13. f4 a6 14. Qa4 Rb8 15. fxe5 axb5 16. Qxb5 Re8 17.
Bf4 Ra8 18. Re3 Ra5 19. Qd3 d6 20. b4 Ra4 21. exd6 Rxe3 22. Qxe3 cxd6 23. Bg5 f6 24. Qb3 Be6) Advantadge: White.

However, Here is what - I don't understand... if Black doesn't capture on Move#9 and Instead Castles, like you suggest... then What is White's Best Move? Retreat the Bishop??? How Much is that Bishop worth.... Because if it's worth Trading, then why Retreat it, and if it is worth MORE then White should Have something Better than this Line above, which is yet to be found...

You're talking about Scotch / Urusov Gambit (hybrid). There's nothing wrong with move order diferences so early. If you enter Max Lange Attack (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Bc4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4, one of the ways to enter it, the 'sharpest' thing you can throw at black) you have to memorize moves to just about every variation that can arise (up to 10). Fortunately some moves are forced or very natural as far as developement (from white's perspective).

This attack is crawling with tactics so be good at them (pins, skewers etc.).

If you play it as white know that if you want to pull something out of the attack you must play the proper moves as it is easy (once you defended against it properly) to block the attack.

If you defend against it as black you have to keep in mind that it involves prepositioning your f6 N a lot in early stages (if it ends up on e6 white has nothing out of the attack on f7) thus not developing other pieces. This is practically the only example I can think of when bending a chess principle so early is deffinitely okay.

''Actually, I think this Line is Better for White because it avoids Black playing d5... any thoughts?
4. ... Nf6 5. 0-0! Nxe4 6. Bd5 Nf6 7. Re1+ Be7 8. c4''

Nope. it only helps black with developement and subsequent castling. You want to harass the f7 square and with King castled short white's attack is practically over. And B on d5 is slightly misplaced.

Just realized I typo'ed Nxe5, should have been Nxe4.

E1)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Bd5 Nf6 7.Re1+ Be7 8.c4 dxc3 9.Nxc3 O-O
As seen above.
E2)
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Bd5 Nf6 7.Re1+ Be7 8.c4 dxc3 9.Nxc3 Nxd5 10.Nxd5 O-O 11.Nd4 Bf6 12.Nb5 Be5 13.f4 a6 14.Qa4 (14.fxe5 axb5 doesn't help.) 14... Rb8 15.fxe5 axb5 16.Qxb5 Re8 17.Bf4 Ra8 (17... Re6) 18.Re3 Ra5 (18... Re6) 19.Qd3 d6 (19... Ne7! 20.Nf6+ gxf6 21.exf6 Nf5! 22.Rxe8+ Qxe8 23.Bxc7 b6 24.b4 Ba6 25.Qd2 Re5 26.Bxe5 Qxe5 about dead-equal. That's what happens when black messes around with a rook to chase a queen that wants to be chased.) 20.b4
Without checking further this probably does give white a nice edge.

I don't see the point in 9... Nxd5 though, 9... O-O is just so much better/cleaner.

7. Re1+ is Bad because it Forces Black to Play a Move S/he wants to Play... Look at this Idea where White Forces Black's Queen to Hinder the Development of their Pieces... I think this Line definately Favors White... How would Black avoid this???

E1)

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Bd5 Nf6 7. c4 dxc3 8. Ng5 Nxd5 9. Qxd5 Qe7 10. Nxc3 d6 11. Qb3

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Bd5 Nc5 7. O-O Ne6 8. c3 Bc5
I see no advantage for white here at all. Position seems at least equal.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 Bd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6
With simple equality as given by Perseus.

I totally agree with this.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. c3 Nf6 6. cxd4 Bb4+
Transposes into a 4.c3 Italian game line where the position is basically equal.

5. e5 is a Mistake because... It allows Black to play a Move he "wants" to Play! 5. 0-0 is Better, even though it loses a Pawn, because of *Development* and *King Safety* ... Also, White has a Clear Advantage (I believe) in this Line!!!

Hence, The New & Current Main Line I am Investigating is this: 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Bd5 Nf6 7. c4 dxc3 8. Ng5 Nxd5 9. Qxd5 Qe7 10. Nxc3 d6 11. Qb3

Firstly I analysed 5.e5 lines because the OP stated those lines. 5.e5 is not a mistake, it is a different line.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Bd5 Nf6 7. c4

This is just not a good line, Pretty much any of the 5.e5 lines I gave are better.

7...Be7 8.Nxd4 Nxd5 9.cxd5 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 O-O

Now no way does white have compensation for the pawn. In most of the 5.e5 lines the position was equal, in these white is just worse.

7.c4 is not good. 6.Bd5 isn't good either because all of the following lines seem worse for white.

So instead of 6.Bd5 you have 6.Re1 leading to the book line

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8.
Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Neg5 O-O-O 11. Nxe6 fxe6 12. Rxe6
With a relatively equal position. Not really any better than 5.e5.

Or perhaps 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Bb5 Bd7 8.Re1 Nxd4 9.Bxd7+ Qxd7 10.Qxd4 c5
Where if anything black has a small advantage.

In summary, the main book line leads to equality, which is more or less the same as 5.e5 lines, your line leads to worse play.