Contemporary Alekhine Defence Players

Question

Recently I started playing Alekhine's Defense and I really like, especially the Scandinavian Variation (the line with strong centralized queen and an annoying knight to kick it around).

I want to know if any current day top players play this opening so that I can study their games for improvement. If they play the Scandinavian variation, then it will be the icing on the cake.

 [FEN ""]

 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 {The Scandinavian variation.}

Answer 1

Ivanchuk has played several games in the Scandinavian variation of the Alekhine. You can find the games for example here, if you sort by black Elo.

Answer 2

I searched the Mega 2020 database, and then ordered the results by black's ELO rating, and as you might imagine, there are not many games at the highest levels since so few strong players play the Alekhine's Defense. There are only 5 games where black was rated above 2700 so you are not going to have a lot of high-level study material.

It is also hard to make any real determination about the opening since most of the games were in blitz, and in the two that were not, there was a great disparity in the levels of the players, so take that into account when deciding on your repertoire.

Wesley So played it once by transposition in blitz: 1.Nc3 Nf6 2.e4 d5. Other than that, Ivanchuk played it three times, but two games were in blitz, and Giri once OTB. Nakamura (also in blitz) and Kortchnoi (draw vs. Hug) both played it once as 2600-players.

 [Event "chess.com Speed"]
 [Site "chess.com INT"]
 [Date "2019.10.03"]
 [Round "1.21"]
 [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
 [Black "So, Wesley"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "B02"]
 [WhiteElo "2767"]
 [BlackElo "2767"]
 [PlyCount "50"]
 [FEN ""]

 1. Nc3 Nf6 2. e4 d5 3. e5 d4 4. Nce2 Nfd7 5. e6 Nf6 6. exf7+ Kxf7 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Nf4 e5 9. Bc4+ Ke8 10. Ne6 Bxe6 11. Bxe6 Qe7 12. Bb3 e4 13. Ng5 d3 14. O-O Nd4 15. cxd3 exd3 16. Bf7+ Kd8 17. Bc4 Qc5 18. Nf7+ Ke8 19. Re1+ Be7 20. b3 Rf8 21. Re5 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Qd4 23. Ba3 Ng8 24. Bxd3 Rxf7 25. Qxe2 Qxa1+ 0-1

And the Giri game.

 [Event "EU-Cup 28th"]
 [Site "Eilat"]
 [Date "2012.10.14"]
 [Round "4.2"]
 [White "Galego, Luis"]
 [Black "Giri, Anish"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "B02"]
 [WhiteElo "2485"]
 [BlackElo "2730"]
 [PlyCount "52"]
 [EventDate "2012.10.11"]
 [EventType "team-swiss"]
 [EventRounds "7"]
 [EventCountry "ISR"]
 [WhiteTeam "Jutes of Kent"]
 [BlackTeam "SHSM-64"]
 [WhiteTeamCountry "ENG"]
 [BlackTeamCountry "RUS"]
 [FEN ""]

 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Bc4 c6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. h3 Bh5 7. d3 e6 8. Ne4 Nd7 9. Ng3 Bb4+ 10. Kf1 Bg6 11. Qe2 Be7 12. Bd2 a5 13. h4 h6 14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. Bc3 O-O 16. a4 Rc8 17. h5 Bh7 18. Nd4 Bf6 19. Nb5 e5 20. Nd6 Rc6 21. Ndf5 d4 22. Be1 Kh8 23. Kg1 Re8 24. Kh2 Bg5 25. Bd2 Bxd2 26. Qxd2 Qf6 0-1

The most recent Ivanchuk game.

 [Event "EU-Cup 32nd"]
 [Site "Novi Sad"]
 [Date "2016.11.09"]
 [Round "4.1"]
 [White "Petenyi, Tamas"]
 [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "B02"]
 [WhiteElo "2443"]
 [BlackElo "2733"]
 [PlyCount "68"]
 [EventDate "2016.11.06"]
 [EventType "team-swiss"]
 [EventRounds "7"]
 [EventCountry "SRB"]
 [WhiteTeam "Dunajska Streda"]
 [BlackTeam "Ashdod"]
 [WhiteTeamCountry "SVK"]
 [BlackTeamCountry "ISR"]
 [FEN ""]

 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Nfd7 4. e6 fxe6 5. d4 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bb5 g6 8. h4 Bg7 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Ng5 Nf6 11. h5 gxh5 12. Bf4 O-O 13. Be5 Qe8 14. Nf3 cxd4 15. Bxd4 e5 16. Bxe5 Qg6 17. Qe2 Bg4 18. O-O-O Bh6+ 19. Kb1 Nd7 20. Bg3 e5 21. Qa6 Bf5 22. Nh4 Bxc2+ 23. Ka1 Qf6 24. Rde1 e4 25. Qe2 Bd3 26. Qxh5 Bg7 27. Qg4 Ne5 28. Bxe5 Qxe5 29. Rh3 Rf4 30. Qg3 Raf8 31. Ng6 hxg6 32. Qxg6 Qf6 33. Qh7+ Kf7 34. Qh5+ Qg6 0-1

And a couple of games from 2016 by Ivanchuk.

 [Event "Beijing Sportaccord blitz"]
 [Site "Beijing"]
 [Date "2014.12.13"]
 [Round "30"]
 [White "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
 [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
 [Result "0-1"]
 [ECO "B02"]
 [WhiteElo "2727"]
 [BlackElo "2704"]
 [PlyCount "92"]
 [EventDate "2014.12.13"]
 [EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
 [EventRounds "30"]
 [EventCountry "CHN"]
 [EventCategory "20"]
 [FEN ""]

 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Nc6 8. a4 a5 9. Nb5 O-O 10. d4 Be6 11. Re1 Bd5 12. Bf4 Rc8 13. c3 Qd7 14. b3 Rfd8 15. Qc2 e6 16. Rad1 Ne7 17. Bg5 c6 18. Na3 h6 19. Bf4 Nf5 20. h4 Qe7 21. Qb2 c5 22. dxc5 Qxc5 23. Nb5 Bxc3 24. Nxc3 Qxc3 25. Qe2 Qxb3 26. Rb1 Bxf3 27. Bxf3 Qa3 28. Bxb7 Nd5 29. Be5 Nc3 30. Qc2 Nxb1 31. Bxc8 Nd2 32. Bb7 Qb4 33. Rd1 Qxb7 34. Rxd2 Rxd2 35. Qxd2 Qb6 36. Bc3 e5 37. Bxe5 Qc5 38. Bc3 Kh7 39. Bxa5 Nxg3 40. Qe3 Qxa5 41. Qxg3 Qxa4 42. Kg2 Qe4+ 43. Kh2 h5 44. Kg1 Qg4 45. Qxg4 hxg4 46. Kg2 Kh6 0-1

And the only loss in the group.

 [Event "Beijing Sportaccord blitz"]
 [Site "Beijing"]
 [Date "2014.12.13"]
 [Round "2"]
 [White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
 [Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
 [Result "1-0"]
 [ECO "B02"]
 [WhiteElo "2734"]
 [BlackElo "2704"]
 [PlyCount "56"]
 [EventDate "2014.12.13"]
 [EventType "tourn (blitz)"]
 [EventRounds "30"]
 [EventCountry "CHN"]
 [EventCategory "20"]
 [FEN ""]

 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Nf3 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Nc6 8. a4 a5 9. d4 O-O 10. Be3 Bf5 11. Qe2 Nb4 12. Rac1 c6 13. Ne5 N6d5 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Bd2 Qb6 16. Bc3 Rad8 17. Rfe1 Rfe8 18. h3 h5 19. Rcd1 Qc7 20. Rc1 c5 21. dxc5 Nxc3 22. bxc3 Qxc5 23. c4 b6 24. Qe3 Qxe3 25. Rxe3 Rd2 26. Nc6 Kf8 27. Rb3 Bd7 28. c3 Bxc6 1-0