The Stonewall Attack in action at club level.

Few of my old Games have survived but I found this in an old score book. I have seen a few threads asking about the Stonewall Attack & quite a few threads asking for recommendations for an opening repertoire for players moving out of the beginner phase, so this is what I did many years ago when I started getting serious about chess. I started playing the Stonewall Attack after reading Horowitz & Reinfields book “How to think ahead in Chess” So I used the Stonewall almost exclusively for a few months Verywhile I waited for my copy of Modern Chess Openings to arrive (3 months to arrive via Snail Mail & ship from America as it was out of stock in Australia)

This game was played at an interclub tournament & is a good example how the Stonewall can work at a beginner to intermediate level especially if black doesn't know how to defend it as was the case here.

I'm not recommending that everyone should immediately start playing it but it is definitely worth a look to see if it suits your style.

A bit about the actual game. Black had never seen the Stonewall Attack before (Though he had seen it as a defense in the Dutch Stonewall variation), he, like me was starting to study openings & theory & tactics. So we were both fairly good small club players & improving rapidly. He said later that he could find no way to counter the attack once it started to build up & every move he made got him into more trouble. I had studied it & had a pretty good understanding of the main line which was what is played here. A word of warning, you will not get many games like this if you decide to play it, black does have some good options but he is in for a world of pain if he doesn't understand how to defend against it.

I found it a very useful opening & it bought me some time while I studied up on other openings once my copy of MCO finally arrived. I don't recommend the Horowitz/Reinfield system as anything more than a starter, it will give you 3 playable openings to use while you learn some more & that's about it.

So if anyone is looking for a system to learn openings I am happy to share what worked for me, also I haven't analyzed the game in depth I have just posted a few comments for those not familiar with the Stonewall opening theory. I'm sure it could have been finished more elegantly but it was under tournament conditions & I took the win anyway I could get it as I had tougher opponents coming up in the next round.

Like the looks of this great set up.  But just one clueless question.

Move 22 , is taking the offered Black Bishop with White's e5 pawn so wrong ?

I'm a sucker for a gift !  Maybe that's why I'm where I am  !

I don't think you could go wrong here. I was just taking advantage of the pin on the bishop after Ng5 & keeping the file open for the Rook as well as bringing the Knight into play. So many strong moves available after Blacks position collapsed

I like how the Stonewall Attack creates a strong pawn structure.  This seems to be my downfall.  Now, I only have to have Black follow suit.  Thank you for posting.

I picked up the same book 'how to think ahead in chess' for $1 at a garage sale and tried the Stonewall Attack for a while; the results were very mixed.  Here's the only game I have from the last 30 days. 

Thats another good example of the power it has when it works, I had mixed results too because the book never addressed the problem of black fianchettoing the Kingside bishop. I never had success against an equal opponent with that defense unless there was a blunder. I learned later to transpose into a Queens Gambit type game. Horowitz seemed to underestimate the strength of club players or he would have added a chapter to the book to cover this.

As a matter of interest how did you find his recomendations for black, the Sicilian Dragon & the Grunfeld?

You've mentioned that the Stonewall is good for beginners to intermediate players.  I tpically play opponents in the 1300 to 1500 range.  Most of these players have been over a chess board for several decades and know the main lines (such as Ruy) 1st twenty moves.  Would you recommend the stonewall for 1300 to 1500 opponents?

Aaron, I was playing it at the 1300 - 1500 level many years ago, it does work but you need to know when to transpose to the Queens Gambit or similar. As the Stonewall Defense is known to be very solid if you play it as White with the 1st move it is a sound opening for white. I also played it in Correspondence where it gets very technical & opponents have both time & resources to counter it, it still held its own. Whether it will hold at 1500+ I'm not sure & it may depend on the Player.

harryz, its a matter of compensation, you do get a very bad dark squared Bishop & also a problem connecting the Rooks but the compensating factor is the attack itself. In the Stonewall Defense the weak pawns are supported by pieces, in the Attack if you get it right the pawn structure is solid & the dark square Bishop is not needed for the initial attack, if you don't get a Mate it can come into play later after you have done the damage.

harryz, I agree with you there, but if you look at the positions black often ends up in he is in a similar position, often he has a development problem too trying to find the best places for his pieces.

Also something I found interesting is this opening had good sucess against Computers because the middle game lines are not so clearly defined. The latest Computers are so strong this is probably no longer the case but it is interesting that this opening alone is documented as a problem for computers

harryz, You got the defense right there, if black fianchettoes to g7 then the only option is to transpose to another Queens pawn opening like the Queens Gambit, the Stonewall is not impervious to all defences. The key to playing it at higher levels is knowing when it won't work & when to transpose & what to transpose to.

Maybe we should run a small tournament sometime, Stonewall Players vs the World with a rating limit & see how it runs.

Bedtime here but before I go, I missed a point with your defence harryz, it will blunt the attack but the pawn on c5 is interesting. If c5xd4 the the correct counter is e3xd4 solving the problem of the trapped dark square Bishop while still maintaining 2 pawn support of the Knight on e5

I like the attack and to be honest, having a blocked dark squared Bishop in the openning and part of the middle game doesn't worry me so much.  As a lower rated player, the more minor pieces at my disposal makes me overanalyze and miss the obvious.

I read the same book and also played the stonewall for a time.

I play the stonewall allot.  I tend to get allot of good advantages out of the openings.  But when someone knows your plan there are some very hard counters.  

One is where black just breaks the stonewall by playing d6 and fiancheting the darksquared bishop and prepares e5.  If someone knows how to do that properly then white is hoping for the draw.   

Another issue:

Black can equalize fairly easy with a stonewall himself.   For example if you do not reinforce e4 enough and he plays nf6 to e4 and then plays f5.  Then focus generally shifts to the c file and controling it.   

Finally an early Nc6 and if you play f4 then he can play Nb4 trading your strong bishop for a knight.  (here you have to take advantage of your strong central pawns.)  If you don't play f4 then he plays e5 and I do not like playing white so much.  

Of course in the meantime there are always opportunities for patzers like myself to blow it.  But overall I like the opening for its straight forward themes and even when someone knows a hard counter you can still play for a draw.   

Edit: Actually if I saw black building for an e5 push (my first counter) I used to not play the stonewall.  

If black plays a 2..Bf5 then play c4 and work on the diagonal across c6 and the b7 pawn.

I totally agree, thats why I started this thread as the Stonewall in action at club level. It will struggle against 2000+ players, they will counter it or just refuse to let you play it at all.

One of the benefits I got from the Stonewall is it gave me an opening to use at club level while I studied other openings. As I gained more knowledge I bought these openings into OTB play. I still use it but not exclusively & not against opponents who know it or have a high rating. It still gets good results if used carefully

@ niceforkinmove, I treat Nc6 the same as c5, c3 stops the forward push to exchange off your light squared Bishop as it allows the Bishop to drop back to c2 & safely maintain control of the b1 h7 diagonal

peliik, thats one way to counter it, or you can just play ..Bf5 as soon as you can get it out & white has to play another opening. If 8...cxd4 the counter I learned was exd4 to maintain the pawn structure & also to free up the dark square Bishop later on.

I wish I still had the book on it, I remember that White had to be very precise about certain moves. Nd2 to secure the e4 weakness was critical as was c3 to give the Bishop an escape hole. f4 also required precise timing & all the time you are reacting to blacks defence to maintain the classic Stonewall position