Dutch Defence: Stonewall, Leningrad and Classical Explained

The Dutch Defence is the reply 1...f5 to 1.d4: instead of contesting the centre with ...d5 or ...Nf6, Black grabs control of the e4 square with a kingside pawn and heads for an unbalanced position with chances to attack White's king. It is one of the most combative defences to 1.d4, and it comes in three very different systems: the Stonewall, the Leningrad and the Classical.

It owes its name to Elias Stein, a player who lived in The Hague and recommended it in his book Nouvel essai sur le jeu des échecs, published in 1789. It has never been the most popular defence, but it has had its moments: in the 1951 World Championship match both Mikhail Botvinnik and David Bronstein played it, and in recent decades elite players such as Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have used it.

The idea in one sentence

Black trades solidity for initiative: control of e4 and play on the kingside, at the cost of weakening the e8-h5 diagonal and the e6 square.

The pawn on f5 does two jobs at once. It stops White from playing e4 comfortably —the natural plan after 1.d4— and it opens the door to a kingside expansion with ...g5, ...f4 or a rook along the f-file. The price is also twofold: Black's king is a little more exposed, and the centre is less secure than in the classical defences. That is why the Dutch cannot be played "more or less": each system has its own plan, and mixing them is the quickest way to end up with the weaknesses and none of the compensation.

The Stonewall: the pawn wall

In the Stonewall Black builds the chain c6, d5, e6 and f5, a wall that dominates e4 and almost holds itself up. The dark-squared bishop usually goes to d6, eyeing h2:

The plans are among the clearest in any opening:

• A knight on e4, backed by d5 and f5, which no pawn can ever chase away.
• A kingside attack: the queen via e8 to h5, the rook via f6 to h6.
• Solving the c8 bishop, the structure's big problem, with ...Bd7-e8-h5 or with ...b6 and ...Bb7.

White, for their part, want to swap off Black's good bishop —with Bf4 or with b3 and Ba3— to take over the e5 square and plant a knight there. All of this is covered in detail in the guide to the Stonewall structure, worth reading if this is the system that appeals to you.

The Leningrad: the Dutch with a fianchetto

The Leningrad combines ...f5 with the King's Indian set-up: bishop on g7, short castling and ...d6. The main line goes like this:

Here the centre is not locked by a wall; it stays flexible. Black's typical plan is the ...e5 break, prepared with ...Qe8 or ...Nc6, to open the game while the g7 bishop bites along the long diagonal. If the centre opens well, the rook on f8 and the queen join the attack; if it closes, Black carries on with ...h6, ...g5 and ...f4.

It is the most dynamic of the three systems and the favourite of King's Indian players: the ideas are similar, except that the f-pawn is already advanced from move one. The flip side is that the position demands concrete calculation, and the e6 square can become a problem if White manages to plant a knight there or break with d5 at the right moment. The course Off the beaten track has a whole lesson on the Leningrad Dutch, with its plans and tactical resources.

The Classical: the middle way

The Classical Dutch is the quietest of the three: Black plays ...e6, ...Be7 and ...d6, committing to neither the wall nor the fianchetto, as in 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O d6. From there the best-known idea is to bring the queen to e8 and then h5 or g6, and to prepare ...e5 to free the position.

It has fewer weaknesses than the Stonewall —the pawn is not fixed on d5, and e5 is covered by d6— and less risk than the Leningrad, but it is also more passive: if Black cannot achieve ...e5, space runs short. It is seen less often than the other two, which is exactly why it pays to know it even if you never play it: many Dutch positions pass through it.

How White plays: the anti-Dutch lines

Plenty of players with White have no wish to enter the positions Black is aiming for, so there are several ways to sidestep the main systems on move two:

• The Staunton Gambit (2.e4). White gives a pawn to open lines against Black's king before it has castled. It is named after Howard Staunton, who played the main line against Bernhard Horwitz in London in 1846. Today Black is considered to defend well, but at club level it is a dangerous weapon.
• 2.Bg5. It eyes e7 and threatens to exchange the knight as soon as it appears on f6. Black usually answers with 2...g6 or 2...h6.
• 2.Nc3, aiming for Bg5 and an early e4.
• 2.h3 followed by g4, a direct hit at the f5 pawn.

The Staunton Gambit is the one you most need to have prepared:

White often regains the e4 pawn, or plays f3 to open lines. The key for Black is not to cling to the pawn at any price and to complete development.

Typical mistakes

• Mixing the systems. Putting the Stonewall pawns together with a bishop on g7, or playing ...d5 in the Leningrad for no reason, leaves you with the weaknesses of both set-ups and the plans of neither.
• Forgetting the king. The e8-h5 diagonal is open from move one. Opening traps punish exactly that.
• Attacking with a shaky centre. The kingside attack works when e4 is under control; if White breaks in the centre, the attack loses its foundation.
• With White, playing on autopilot. Against the Stonewall you must fight for e5; against the Leningrad, keep an eye on ...e5. Developing "normally" and waiting hands Black exactly what they want.

An example of how expensive it can be to neglect the king is this well-known trap against 2.Bg5, in which Black pushes kingside pawns without looking at the diagonal:

The losing move is 6...Rh6: after 5...h5 and 6...Rh6 Black forgets that the f5 pawn has gone and that g6 is left undefended.

Who is the Dutch Defence for?

For anyone who wants to play for a win with Black against 1.d4 and prefers positions with plans of their own to passive defence. It has a practical edge: most club opponents know far less theory against 1...f5 than against the Nimzo-Indian or the Queen's Gambit, so the player who has studied it usually knows more than the opponent from move two.

It is not for everyone. If you are uncomfortable with a slightly exposed king, or find unbalanced positions hard to handle, you may be better off starting with another defence; the guide What chess opening should I play? helps you choose. One more thing: the Dutch is a reply to 1.d4, but against 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 you can also play 1...f5 with similar plans, which makes it a fairly universal system.

How to study it

1. Pick one system. The Stonewall if you want clear plans and little theory; the Leningrad if you like King's Indian positions; the Classical if you want something in between.
2. Learn the structure before the moves. Which squares Black wants (e4, sometimes e5 after the break) and which squares White wants (e5, e6).
3. Prepare for the anti-Dutch lines. A concrete answer to 2.e4, 2.Bg5 and 2.Nc3 is worth more than ten moves of main-line theory.
4. Study model games. In an opening built on plans, one well-annotated game teaches more than a list of variations.

The course Stonewall Deep Dive: Plans, Structures and Model Games studies the most popular system from both sides: White's plans with Bf4 and Ba3, the systems without a fianchetto, the move orders with ...d5 or ...f5, and model games with the bishop on e7 and on d6. And for the Leningrad, the lesson in Off the beaten track shows how to use it to surprise your opponent and seize the initiative.