The Stonewall is not an opening but a pawn set-up: c6, d5, e6 and f5 stand like a wall, conceding e5 to the opponent and claiming e4 in return. Black can build it in the Dutch Defence and White can build it from move one. There is hardly any theory, but there is one plan that lasts the whole game.
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The starting position. Choose your moves - at a branching point several continuations are available.
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The Stonewall is a pawn set-up, not a separate opening. Four black pawns go to c6, d5, e6 and f5 and form a wall on the light squares. It usually arises from the Dutch Defence (1.d4 f5), but White can build the same wall on c3, d4, e3 and f4.
The bargain is the same in both colours. Black hands over the e5 square: a white knight sits there permanently, because the d- and f-pawns have already advanced and nothing can chase it away. In exchange Black gets a permanent outpost on e4, a solid centre and clear kingside play.
The main practical feature is that there is almost no theory. The set-up is the same against nearly anything White does, so instead of memorising lines you learn one plan. That is why the Stonewall is so often recommended to players who do not want to study opening books.
Black's first problem is the c8 bishop. It runs into its own pawns on e6 and f5 and is hard to develop. The usual solutions are ...b6 and ...Ba6, or ...Bd7-e8-h5. Until it comes out, Black is effectively a piece short, and that is the main argument against the system.
The second is the d6 bishop. It holds e5 and looks at White's king, so White almost always tries to trade it with Bf4 or Ba3. Once that trade happens, the dark squares around Black's king are weak for good and the attack plays itself.
That is the whole argument of the opening: White hunts the dark-squared bishop and the e5 square, Black tries to keep the bishop and free the one on c8. Whoever solves their problem stands better.
The same system with colours reversed: 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Bd3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.f4. White builds the c3-d4-e3-f4 wall, puts a knight on e5 and a bishop on d3 and swings the rook f1-f3-h3. The plan needs no book and works very well in blitz.
The price is the same, though: e4 goes to Black, and the c1 bishop is shut in exactly as Black's c8 bishop is. Against accurate play - a quick ...c5, exchanges in the centre and ...Bg4 - there is no advantage.
So for White the Stonewall is mostly a fast-time-control system: the attack comes ready-made, and the opponent has to know exactly how to answer it.
These are the main named variations. Click any one of them and it loads straight onto the board above, where you can play it out move by move. The trainer itself holds more lines than this: it also covers main-line continuations and transpositions that have no name of their own.
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A set-up. It arises from several openings - most often the Dutch Defence for Black, but White can build it from move one. That is why it sits next to the Dutch in a catalogue rather than as a line of its own.
The e5 square is gone for good and the c8 bishop is locked in by its own pawns. If the opponent installs a knight on e5 and trades the dark-squared bishops, Black is left solid but passive.
Yes, it is one of the friendliest systems for a beginner: almost no theory, a repeating set-up and a clear plan - knight to e4, rook to h6, attack the king.
The Dutch is the move 1...f5 and a whole family of systems. The Stonewall is one of them; the others are the Leningrad with ...g6 and the Classical with ...d6. The defence as a whole has its own page.
Almost. Against 1.d4, 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 it goes up nearly automatically. Against 1.e4 it makes no sense: the f5 pawn would simply hang.
Want the tactics that decide these positions? Start with the 12 most common opening traps and tactics for beginners. If you are just starting out, read the rules of chess and how to set up the board.
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