Stonewall Attack: free opening course

Key ideas

• Build the stone wall with pawns on c3, d4, e3 and f4. The bishop goes to d3 and aims at h7.
• Put a knight on e5. The d4 and f4 pawns guard it, and Black cannot easily chase it away.
• Attack the king. The rook swings over through f3 to h3, or the queen goes from e1 to h4.
• Watch Black's light bishop. Trade it if it comes to f5. If it comes to g4, it attacks your queen.
• Look for the bishop sacrifice on h7. It works when Black castles and has too few defenders near the king.

The 5 variations in the course

• Main line: ...c5 and ...Nc6: 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 e6 4. f4 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bd6 … — Black plays the natural ...c5 and ...Nc6. White completes the wall, puts a knight on e5 and swings the rook to h3. Black must defend h7 with care.
• 2...Bf5: trade the bishop: 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Bf5 3. Bd3 Bxd3 4. Qxd3 e6 5. Qb5+ Nd7 6. Qxb7 Ngf6 … — Black brings the light bishop out early. White trades it off with Bd3. After the trade the Stonewall push is slow. So White uses a queen check to win the b7 pawn.
• 3...Bg4: the attack on the queen: 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 Bg4 4. f3 Bh5 5. Ne2 e6 6. Nf4 Bg6 … — Black's bishop attacks the queen on d1. White blocks with the f-pawn and hunts the bishop with a knight. Then White still builds the stone wall, with two bishops.
• 3...g6: the fianchetto: 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 g6 4. f4 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O c5 … — Black puts the bishop on g7, which protects the king well. White still builds the wall, trades the knight for Black's light bishop and attacks with the g-pawn.
• 1...Nf6 move order and ...c4: 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 c5 4. c3 d5 5. f4 c4 6. Bc2 Nc6 … — Black starts with 1...Nf6 and plays the d-pawn later. Then Black closes the queenside with ...c4. White keeps the bishop on the h7 diagonal and attacks on the kingside.

Traps you will learn (3)

• Bishop sacrifice on h7 — In the main line the rook on h3 and the bishop on d3 aim at h7. If Black moves the knight away with 11...Ne7, White sacrifices on h7 and mates.
• Watch out: 3...Bg4 attacks the queen — After 3...Bg4 Black's bishop attacks White's queen. The usual Stonewall move 4.f4 loses the queen. Always block first.
• The loose bishop on f5 — After 3.Bd3 Black's f5 bishop is attacked. If Black develops with 3...Nc6, the bishop has no guard and White wins it.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.