The Stonewall Attack
The Stonewall Attack is a Queen's pawn (1.d4) opening for White, which, in the hands of one who understands its relatively straightforward attacking plans and strategies, can be a lethal.
While the opening is not currently in fashion, and isn't typically seen at the very highest levels, the Stonewall Attack is nevertheless very playable at the amateur and club level as most opponents at these levels will be less familiar with how to best defend against it. It can be an especially effective weapon for speed games (bullet, blitz, rapid, etc.).
The first five chapters of the book, "How to Think Ahead In Chess" by I.A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld are devoted to an introductory tutorial on the Stonewall Attack. The book is an "oldie but goodie" (1951), written in the older descriptive notation. It focuses primarily on the themes, plans and strategies of the opening and is targeted to the beginner through intermediate amateur player.
The more recent "The Stonewall Attack" by Andrew Soltis (revised 2nd edition -1993, in algebraic notation) is an excellent introduction to the opening. It was, and still is, the best introductory book on the Stonewall Attack, for every player. I highly recommend it. Unfortunately the book is out of print, but is available on Scribd.com as a download (under the 'Documents' menu only - search 'The Stonewall Attack Soltis')...
Soltis' book can also be downloaded for free from pdfdrive.com (here in .djvu format, which can be opened with WinDjView app).....
https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-stonewall-attack-d196344366.html
Scribd and PDFdrive For Online Chess Book Reading, Downloading...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/scribd-com-for-online-chess-book-reading
Book Review: The Stonewall Attack (Revised 2nd Edition) by Andrew Soltis...
https://www.pathtochessmastery.com/2020/05/book-completed-stonewall-attack.html
Introductory Overview of The Stonewall Attack...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_Attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7rpFWnBHpE
Here, the game of the YouTube video (above)....an ideal prosecution of the Stonewall Attack...
(note: for more on the article cited in the wiki and video above, see the section below - Defending Against the Stonewall Attack).
Stonewall Attack: A Sure and Steady Opening - Chessable Blog.....
https://www.chessable.com/blog/stonewall-attack/
(See also Stonewall Attack course on Chessable cited further below*)...
The Best Stonewall Lesson to Easily Understand - KaspaChess...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QUAUpL-e0I
Learn the Stonewall Defense & Attack | 10-Minute Chess Openings - GothamChess...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_brAnORWGw
Opening Basics #35: Stonewall attack - Jim's Chess Channel...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P65XMmfK110
Chess lesson : openings (stonewall attack II) - MSK Chess...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfKe8dV7hOE
The Stonewall Attack - Chess Pathways...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ShMJy5f1-o&ab_channel=ChessPathways
The Stonewall Attack – Basic concepts for beginners - QueenTakesKnightOOPS...
The Stonewall Pawn Stucture - Chess.com...
(in order to see entire Chess.com videos may require a Diamond membership)...
https://www.chess.com/video/player/pawn-structure-101-the-stonewall
Chill with the Yaac Attack.....(Yaac Attack...is in fact...the Stonewall Attack!)...
https://www.chess.com/blog/LogoCzar/chill-with-the-yaac-attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hYO4t6G858
*The Stonewall Attack - Chessable course by NM Yaacov Norowitz...
https://www.chessable.com/the-yaac-attack-stonewall-for-white/course/31827/?ref=yaacattack.com
https://www.chessable.com/chess-openings/s/yaac
More Stonewall Attack Tutorials...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdbCJhPJoVatEk5b4xKlBQzeMtIAqmb0L
Stonewall Attack games...
here some games (PGN download) from Andrew Soltis' book, "The Stonewall Attack" (above)...
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1011585
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1094726
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1570722
Miscellaneous Stonewall Attack content...
https://gameknot.com/annotation.pl/running-into-a-stonewall.pl?gm=6755
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1001886
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1159287
https://www.365chess.com/view_game.php?g=180053
Defending Against The Stonewall Attack...
The following article* is a tutorial on how one might go about defending against the Stonewall Attack...
https://web.archive.org/web/20120425071320/http://chesscamp.net/files/page7-1034-full.jpg
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/how-to-defend-against-the-stonewall-attack
* "Stonewalling - How to turn this frustrating opening into your opponent's Watergate", by IM Larry D. Evans (not the former 5-time US Open Champion GM Larry M. Evans, who was a friend of Bobby Fischer); pp. 34-36 of the December 1981 issue of Chess Life magazine (the pdf may be slow to download - so have patience)...
http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/1981/1981_12.pdf
Back issues of Chess Life magazine can be downloaded as .pdf files from the United States Chess Federation (USCF) Chess Life and Chess Review Archives here (your download might be slow, so be patient)...
https://new.uschess.org/chess-life-digital-archives
Stonewall Attack vs The London System
The Stonewall Attack may be viewed as a precursor to The London System in the sense that the basic Kingside attacking motif of the main line Stonewall Attack can be discerned as having similarities to the main line London System (albeit in a modified form, due to the Stonewall's pawn on f4 and undeveloped dark-square Bishop). In fact, the straight-forward attacking scheme of the Stonewall is easier to learn as there is far less opening "theory' (i.e., documented lines and variations) to deal with. Together these two factors suggest that learning and playing the Stonewall first could be an effective avenue, or stepping stone (pun intended), for learning the London System. AS mentioned previously it tends to be most effective at the amateur level and especially so in speed games (rapid, blitz, etc.).
Bottom line - at the amateur/club level The Stonewall Attack is a relatively easy to learn, aggressive opening system for White which can often be played to good effect compared to other, more heavily theory-laden Queen's Pawn (1.d4) openings.
Notable is lesson/chapter 4 of "The London System In 12 Practical Lessons" by Oscar de Prado (in my view currently the best and the most up-to-date book on the London System) which treats an alternative version of the London System that I like to call the "London Stonewall" variation. This setup seeks to improve upon the standard Stonewall setup through the early exchange of White's light-square f4-bishop followed by completing a Stonewall pawn structure (c3-d4-e3-f4). As the author states: "The idea is that after Black's usual ...Bd6, White is going to play Bf4xd6, followed by f2-f4, setting up a version of the Stonewall, which in theory should be good for White since we've exchanged our theoretically 'bad' bishop [Bf4] for the opponent's 'good' one [Bd6]. [....] This is a good alternative to have in your repertoire, varying it with the normal London System, so as to be able to surprise [or confuse] our opponents." Annotated games 8, 9 and 14 of the book (the first three games, respectively, in the following list) illustrate the "London Stonewall" variation.
The following video is an excellent tutorial introduction to the 'London Stonewall' (referred to as the 'London-Wall Attack' in the video's title). The presenter starts off by explaining the "standard" Stonewall Attack prior to moving on to the 'London-Wall Attack' (@4:16 of video). Note also that he makes the point (@12:30) that although he does not play the "standard" Stonewall Attack in "serious" (i.e., high-level) games, but he will play the 'London-Wall (London Stonewall) Attack' in those high-level competitions...
New Opening Alert! The London-Wall Attack is Deadly - KaspaChess...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAUL4E7LWjU
"London Stonewall" - example games...
Alekseev, Vadim-Sarichev, Sergey 1-0, D00 RUS-Cup Minsk 2000
Kramnik, Vladimir-Grandelius, Nils 1-0, 4th Norway Chess 2016
Tscharotschkin, Michael - Stavila, Irina 1-0, IX Calvia Amateur Open 2012
Moiseenko, Vadim-Truskavetsky,Alexandr 1-0, Yalos Rapid 2022
The Stonewall can also be played as Black...
Playing the Stonewall Dutch Defense as Black
Here GM Nikola Sedlak makes a convincing case for playing the Stonewall Dutch Defense in the preface to his book (below)...
https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/PlayingtheStonewallDutch-excerpt.pdf
As a first introduction to the Stonewall Dutch Defense, I recommend My First Chess Opening Repertoire for Black by Vincent Moret (Chapter 9, pp. 141-177) which extensively treats this opening. Moret provides excellent, detailed, step-by-step instruction in how to play the variation, appropriate for the novice thru intermediate player who has little-to-no prior experience with the Stonewall Dutch.
For those interested in playing the Stonewall as Black, I also recommend the following books (in the order presented, for those with no prior experience with this opening)...
Starting Out: The Dutch Defence by Neil McDonald
Win with the Stonewall Dutch by Sverre Johnsen & Ivar Bern
Dutch Stonewall by Jacob Aagaard
Playing The Stonewall Dutch by Nikola Sedlak
The Diamond Dutch by Viktor Moskalenko
All of these books are good for their intended purpose and audience. Neil McDonald's book is an excellent introductory overview of all of the Dutch Defense variations - Stonewall, Classical and Leningrad. Johnsen & Bern is a comprehensive introduction to the Stonewall Dutch for all players. Jacob Aagaard's book is a comprehensive introduction to the Stonewall Dutch, targeted primarily to experienced players. Sedlak's book is an opening repertoire in the Stonewall Dutch Defense, targeted primarily to experienced players. Moskalenko's book is a relatively advanced treatment of all three Dutch Defense variations, also intended for more experienced players - it includes a separate chapter on anti-Dutch systems.
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