A deeper understanding of the Dutch Stonewall?

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Annikadas

I PLAY STONEWALL FROM WHITE AND BLACK....YES IF THE POSITION IS PREVENTED THEN WE WILL HAVE A TOUGH TOUGH TIME[THE STONEWALL STRUCTURE ] IN BOTH CASES

BUT THERE ARE MANY TACTICS AND ATTACKING PLANS AND YOU CAN EVEN FIGHT FOR THE CENTRE.....IT HAS REALLY HELPED AND I TOO WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON THEM

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ThrillerFan
Annikadas wrote:

I PLAY STONEWALL FROM WHITE AND BLACK....YES IF THE POSITION IS PREVENTED THEN WE WILL HAVE A TOUGH TOUGH TIME[THE STONEWALL STRUCTURE ] IN BOTH CASES

BUT THERE ARE MANY TACTICS AND ATTACKING PLANS AND YOU CAN EVEN FIGHT FOR THE CENTRE.....IT HAS REALLY HELPED AND I TOO WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION ON THEM

THANKS

 

First off, kill the all caps.

 

Secondly, using the Dutch Stonewall as an "all encompassing" defense will fail you horribly.

 

There are times where the Stonewall is specifically bad.  Actually, the Stonewall should NOT be your top priority.  It should be your last resort!

 

After 1.d4 f5 with the idea of 2...Nf6 and 3...e6, look at that horrible Bishop on c8.  If White gives you the chance to move it to the long diagonal, by all means do it!

 

For example, after 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nbd2, Black should, by all means, play 4...b6 intending 5...Bb7!

 

That said, there is also a general rule of thumb about the Stonewall Dutch.  If White can get in Bf4 AND Bd3, without any structural damage, the Stonewall Dutch is HORRIBLE!

 

Also, DO NOT allow the Trade of Dark-Squared Bishops without it costing White either his structure or a LOT of time!

 

Also, if White goes to h3 instead of f3 with the Knight, Black should not play a Stonewall, but rather, a Classical setup playing for e5 so as to take f4 away from the Knight on h3

 

Lastly, Black should never play c6 without c4 being played by White.  Black can actually afford to trade Bishops if he can still recapture with the pawn on c7.

 

 

Therefore:

 

1.d4 f5 and now:

  • 2.g3 (Best - preventing b6/Bb7) Nf6 3.g3 (commitment to g3 ruins White's ideal Bf4/Bd3 scenario, so the Stonewall is now fine) e6 4.Nf3 (4.Nh3 d6!) d5!
  • 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Nf3 - Here 4...d5 is HORRIBLE because after 5.Bf4! c6 6.e3 intending 7.Bd3, White has a major advantage!

After 1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.g3 e6, if White plays 4.c4 (not committing to Nh3 or Nf3), then Black should answer 4...c6! (again, answer c4 with c6, do not play c6 before White plays c4) and now 5.Nf3 d5! or 5.Nh3 d6!.  After 5.Nf3 d5! 6.O-O Bd6, here, White has a couple of main ideas:

 

A) 7.b3 (the main line), Black must answer with 7...Qe7 (again, preventing the trade of DSB's via preventing 8.Ba3) where 8.a4 should be answered by 8...a5 (taking over b4 at the cost of the Bishop Trade) while 8.Ne5 (considered best) can be answered with normal moves like O-O and b6 and Bb7, etc.  You need to study to understand the move order tricks.  Some cases 8...b6 is bad, some cases 8...O-O is inferior, etc.

B) 7.Bf4 is the other main line, and here, because it does structural damage, Black can play 7...Bxf4! 8.gxf4 and the weak dark squares are compensated for by White's inferior pawn structure.

 

"Winning With the Stonewall Dutch", a book from 2009 by Gambit, is an EXCELLENT book for anyone interested in the Stonewall Dutch.  It discusses move order, strategy, when the Stonewall is bad and when it's not, and also covers Anti-Dutch lines, and provides 64 complete games along with coverage of theory!  There are also many exercises to re-inforce your knowledge of the Dutch.

neofito55
ManicMinerUK escribió:

Eric C: I am pretty open to learning new openings, and am certainly not wedded to the Dutch at all... What answers to 1.d4 would you recommend that might lead to more tactical, open games? (I realise that against d4 there is a limit to how open the game can get, but anything that can avoid the cramped locked pawns that tend to arise from the symmetrical responses would be welcome)

Hammerschlag - Thank you for a highly detailed response. I'm somewhat encouraged to know that I'm not just playing it incorrectly, and that it really does lead to the kind of extremely closed positions I have been finding myself in. In a funny way I've enjoyed my dalliance with the dutch as it certainly produces very different situations to those I am used to, and its been interesting seeing how much variety there is to chess. At times it was played a whole different game!

I'll check out Silman's book, as it sounds right up my street!

 

Dear minermaniac

If you want tactical positions arriving from your white oponent playing solid with d4 you can study some games from vishy anand playing the slav defense against the d4 c4 Nf3 from white, i know that some of the moves GM makes are difficult to understand but with help of engines you can check what if he does take the rook or the bishop, what if he acept the piece sacrifice and watching kingcrusher videos is very helpful from my point of view