Erwin L'Ami teaches the Dutch Stonewall

There are a few authors whose ChessBase DVDs I do not miss at all costs. One of them is Erwin L'Ami. The reason is simple: a player like Erwin would not record a DVD unless he has something substantial to offer to the chess world. The amount of research that he puts into his work is mammoth. Being an extremely strong player himself and also the second of Anish Giri, Erwin has a reputation to maintain. And thus, I always wait for any new DVDs recorded by him. Many of you might be wondering, how is it that I say all of this with so much confidence?

So what's the topic of Erwin's latest DVD for ChessBase?

Now, I am a hard core 1.d4 player and I must tell you that my opinion about the Stonewall's merits was quite low. I have a good score against it with white and I feel that Black is clearly weakening his dark squares. One of the games which remains in my mind forever to fight against the Dutch Stonewall is the classic between Shlechter and John.

The plan was so simple. Force Black to take on f4 and then take with exf4. The e-file opens up and the e6 pawn is weak. The knight on e4 can be kicked with f3, while the knight on e5 will be on a good outpost. This looked just so simple! My faith in this system for white increased further when I saw another classic played by Pillsbury against Showalter.

I loved this game so much that I also wrote an article entitled Philosophical side of chess based on one of the positions that arose in Pillsbury vs Showalter.

After a point black players started to realise that this was indeed a potent system for White and started developing their bishop to e7. This was done against me in Porticcio Open 2016 by Ellen Hagesather.

In the above position I played h3 intending the move g4. While the intention was pretty good, my opponent played well and it was only after great fortune that I managed to bring home the full point.

After the game as I was walking towards the dinner room, I bumped into Nils Grandelius. The Swedish GM was playing table tennis. He stopped his game and asked me, "Why h3?! Didn't you see my round one game? h2-h3 is just a loss of tempo! You can directly play g4!"

The first thing I wanted to check when I laid my hands on Erwin L'Ami's DVD was, what had he suggested to this simple White's idea of d4 c4 Nf3 Nc3 and Bf4. I hate it when authors do not consider the most critical option for the opponent. And I was happy to see that Erwin too had the same opinion as me when it came to White's aggressive setup. He gives a good antidote against it with black.

You need to be flexible in chess. Yes, the DVD is about Stonewall, but when the System doesn't work, you must be ready to adapt. This is what Erwin does well. He suggests the move 4...Bb4 taking the game into some sort of a Nimzo/Queen's Indian territory. Personally I have faced this system as White and have found it much more difficult to crack than 4...d5.

The DVD has good recommendations against the main lines. However, I also like the first six videos which deal with typical ideas and manoeuvres.

Memorizing theory is good. However, the limitations of it are quite obvious. What if your opponent plays a move that is not covered by the author. And this is quite possible. After all, how much can one cover in four and half hours of video training. In such a scenario, I think learning typical themes and ideas is extremely important. Once you have learnt that the light squared bishop can be activated in this fashion, you can immediately find the best move in the position given below:

Bd7! with the idea of Be8-g6 or h5 is the best move in the position and this can be easily found if you are well versed with the ideas in the position.

Players who have studied Dutch Stonewall in a good way can use it as a fighting weapon with black pieces. Unlike the Grunfeld or the Slav, the number of forcing lines are less because of the closed nature of the position. This is the reason why I would recommend you to have a close look at Erwin L'Ami's DVD on the Stonewall. For Rs.999/- you might just get an opening weapon that could last a lifetime! 

Buy Erwin L'Ami's Dutch Stonewall DVD from the ChessBase India shop

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