Edted

I think the best weapon against the stonewall is the king's indian setup, and then blow open the center with ..d6, ..Nfd7 and ..e5! with a good game for black.

Alternatively there's the 1. ..d5 2. ..Bf5 set-up that should guarantee easy equality.

But people who play these kind of systems usually do not care much for obtaining a small opening advantage, but rather want positions they are familiar with.

When I defend against the Stonewall, I like the 4...Ne4 line.  Here is an example of one of my games with 4...Ne4.

The best move order for the stonewall is the bird move order.  This way you can sidestep the kings indian.  And yes there is a lot less theory to learn with the stonewall than other openings. And this makes it a good opening for a non master with limited time to study openings

@BillWall- 3 Knight moves in the opening! :) I'm not sure, but it looks as if white has a sufficient advantage after 7. e4

I was playing my father today and I opened with the stonewall and he countered with N-QB3. It basically threw off my opening game. You can either defend the pawn by P-QB3 but I advanced the pawn attacking the Knight. Once I did that the Stonewall was shattered at least in my opinion. Can anyone let me know if this is a good solid defense for black(N-QB3) or this is a  easy move for white to attack.

Thanks

I agree with Estragon, and I would add:

In my personal experience, I found that, unless your opponent has made an extremely great mistake worth punishing (hang the queen, give away the center, etc); one should just develop the King's knight and bishop (Nf3 and Be2), castle asap, and then start trading pieces. I found out that, even at relatively high levels (1400-1800), for black to take the initiative makes white start doubting.

I try to follow these simple rules:

* Dont trade your strong pieces for the opponent's weak ones. (i.e. a strong knight for a folded bishop, etc) 

* If possible, try to break the bishop couple.

* If possible, get your rooks on the d and e files. If all goes wrong, you still can align them together and make MAJOR damage.

*If possible, always try to double the opponent's pawns. If one can trade a minor piece for another minor piece AND the opponent has to double up a pawn to get our piece, it's a win, because we all know that having a doubled up pawn is like having a pawn less. It may look as a minor detail, but early trades lead to early endgames, and an advantage of 1 or 2 pawns then becomes A LOT.

* Try to rush the endgame as much as you can, without compromising your position. After all, our opponent is a human being, and his/her fastest moves are not always the most accurate ones. That way he/she may probably make some errors (or a lot of them!), and then you can play YOUR game.

Hope it was helpful in some way.