From about 1982 through 1990, I played the Stonewall Attack a lot, enjoying moderate success with it against many class A and below (USCF) players.

  Below is one of my samples of taking advantage of the opportunities, but I think my opponent could have played better early in the game.

15. Qh5+ was brilliant!

ADK

instructive!

For move #15, Qh5+... why didn't black go Nxh5 in return... was that a miss, or am I missing something?  Kf8 was a clear death-trap with Ng5...

15. ...Nxh5 16. Bg6#

Ah, thanks 8dot8... Well played RetGuvvie98; I totally missed that the Rf1 had the f-file secured after the knight was lost.  I guess castling after 14. Ng5 would have been the only real defense, but you'd have to see it coming. ~ Dave (Rookie)

well, dave, if you read the text with the moves, (should show up), he had lost regardless by that point - and that is why he didn't castle.  Realizing he was lost if he castled, he tried to push the knight out of the way, little dreaming that could be the absolute worst possible move.

i liked it.

your chess is really good. sigh...

WOWZERS Excellent Mate!!!!!

Black played terrible. He didnt understand the opening at all. Well done RetGuvvie98.

Why do people play this?! This has to be the most annoying opening in the world for black :p

What's worse, is that there's no good places to learn how to play it as white and how to counter as black.

ahhh, but there are some good places to learn to play it, Hydroxide.

a. Colle Attack  by Koltanowski

  White sets up d4, e3, Bd3 Nd2 and Nf3 - a latent and often constricting positional buildup before a devastating "slash and burn" tactical attack.  (frequently involving the Bxh7+ attack to prise black out of his castled position).

b. Stonewall Attack by Soltis  (he has two editions with different games to illustrate concepts)   More aggressively,  d4, e3, Bd3, Nd2, f4 and then the king knight can choose either Nf3 or Nh3 (as I did because it fit well - banking on him playing like an 1880 and dogmatically refusing to move both his e pawn and his bishop again in the opening).   An attack based on denying black certain squares (the center) and then reducing his options until he feels hamstrung and tied up - often leading black to do erratic things in an attempt to bust open things to get some space.

  In both these lines, the c1 bishop is a 'problem child' and developing him becomes problematic at times.

c. Torre Attack - various authors    The c1 bishop advances to g5 early - before closing off with e3.  While that resolves that issue, that raises other issues to work with, and it is quite tactical.

d.  London System - another useful line to study, because you want flexibility above all else - based on the basic pawn structure in the Colle and Stonewall attack systems.

I'm sure some other systems can readily be transposed into from one or another of these - including variations resembling the Caro-Kann.

   remember, a lot depends on your opponent's desire to accomplish that nebulous "something" to disrupt your plans and you must always evaluate the board before each move.

I learned to play it because I got tired of being beaten in e4 openings by those whose memory of the tactics in that exceeded mine.  I found that d4 often allowed equality against higher rateds and frequently won handily.

Excellent, it looks somewhat like how I start :)

really nice... good job

THIS IS GREAT TO LEARN FROM!!!!

easy to learn from easyer to use

So that's what the spearhead shaped attack is called.  Very good, the formation looks Spartan.

stay tuned. I just found (cleaning house to get rid of things and sell it), the first time I played an expert - I won when only a 1300 - he was 2120 and hadn't lost a game in over 60 games.

will be posting it here.