Hello, I am a 1500 who is considering about implementing the Dutch Defense(Stonewall) in my opening repertoire.
After 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 d5 7.Nc3 c6…
What are the advantages/disadvantages for both sides?
What are blacks chances?
Nice set-up if you can get to it!( 1d4 f5 2bg5) changes those plans! lot of problems for black on the kingside. ( 1nf3 f4) now you can reach your set-up! i stop playing it many years ago! best of luck with it!!!
Yeah, there are a few anti-Dutch lines to contend with. You can avoid most of them with move order tricks. Just remember that the Stonewall is f5, e6, and d5, but not necessarily in that order. If you play the French, then 1. d4 e6 2. c4 (or Nf3) f5 is a good way to avoid the anti-Dutch systems. Most 1. d4 players won’t play 2. e4, transposing to the French.
Here are some of my thoughts on the Dutch. First of all, I think it is just about the easiest opening to learn against 1. d4, 1. c4, and 1. Nf3 (my second choice would be the Tartakower variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined). I’m a High School chess coach, and most of my students play the Dutch, although to add some variety, my students play different variations of the Dutch: Classical, Stonewall, and Leningrad. Of these three, the most solid is undoubtedly the Stonewall, but that doesn’t make it the easiest to play. One needs to be careful that one doesn’t just drift into a passive position where your opponent has all the real chances and your queenside pieces are undeveloped. I would suggest that you obtain a monograph on the Stonewall, such as: “Win with the Stonewall Dutch” by Johnsen and Bern (2009), and then play over all the games. That is the best way to get a feel for any opening is to play over many games. Johnsen and Bern also have chapters on the “Anti-Dutch” lines. If you’re ambitious, you might look at all the Dutch lines together, especially the Leningrad. I think that Leningrad and Stonewall make a good pair. The Leningrad is more fluid and dynamic and the Stonewall more solid and positional, they kind of balance each other out. Another possibility is to also look at the Bird’s opening (1. f4), since after 1… d5 this position is simply the Dutch reversed. Of course, if you play 1. f4 you will need to know what to do against 1… e5 (From’s Gambit). The monograph entitled “Bird’s Opening” by Timothy Taylor is a good one. I have a number of students who play the Dutch (“Bird’s”) as white, the Dutch against 1. d4, 1. c4, and 1. Nf3; our only problem is that we haven’t been able to figure out how to play the Dutch against 1. e4.
Steven Craig Miller (chess coach at Lincoln-Way West HS in New Lenox, IL)