There have been many revolutions in how chess players view tactical play or opening strategy. However, for me it is fitting that the resurgence of the Stonewall is coming at the exact time that strategic chess is being redefined by Carlsen. It is an echo of when the opening was first introduced: Botvinnik, the ‘Patriarch’ of the Soviet chess school, with its discipline and its principles, produced a similarly seismic shift in how people viewed positional play at the time.
The positional themes in this opening are incredibly complex. We’ll get into it more later but let me just explain some of the confounding factors. From Black’s perspective, playing with a hole on e5 is very much an ‘acquired taste’, in spite of the ideas that have already been found to counterbalance it, such as a queen (or bishop) transfer to h5, or launching the f-pawn against the enemy king.
From White’s perspective, the seemingly amazing g2-bishop, which is so well placed in other Dutch lines, can often find itself biting on granite (hence stonewall) and therefore he’s best off trying to leverage his extra space and the time it takes BLack to develop the c8-bishop. Interestingly, both sides often trade their ‘good bishops’ for the knights that entrench themselves just over the half-way line on e4 and e5 respectively. Since this is a book for Black, I’ll occupy myself more with his plans and ideas, but both sides would benefit from thinking flexibly and pragmatically.
One thing that (in my opinion) hadn’t really been done before is a really thorough look at the Stonewall using modern computer engines (and over a thousand hours of analysis). While the opening is definitely all about understanding, wouldn’t you prefer to benefit from some fresh ideas and knowledge of which the best move orders might be, as well as which plans have hidden holes in them? Thus, the idea for this book was formed. I’ll be looking at both the classical approach where Black plays ... Be7 and the ‘modern’ approach with ... Bd6. In openings that are based on understanding, it’s always helpful to look at older approaches to the same problem, and compare our thoughts with those of our predecessors.
SPIS TREŚCI:
004 Key to Symbols
007 Introduction
013 PART I - Systems with g3 and Nh3
015 Chapter 1 - 5.Nh3
039 PART II - Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Classical approach with ...Be7)
041 Chapter 2 - 7.Nc3
055 Chapter 3 - 7.b3
067 Chapter 4 - The Surprising 6...Ne4!?
075 PART III - Systems with g3 and Nf3 (Modern approach with ...Bd6)
077 Chapter 5 - 7.Qc2
105 Chapter 6 - 7.b3
139 Chapter 7 - 7.Nbd2
157 PART IV - Other White setups
159 Chapter 8 - White plays d4, c4 and Nc3
169 Chapter 9 - White plays d4, Nf3 and e3
179 Chapter 10 - London System
187 Chapter 11 - Irregular 3rd moves
