Queen's Pawn Game: Stonewall Attack

The Stonewall Attack is a system for White rather than a set of lines: pawns on d4, e3, c3 and f4, the bishop on d3 and the knight on d2. On this page it starts 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Bd3, and MCO-15 gives 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.Bd3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.f4 as a main line. White can also reach it from Bird's Opening, 1.f4.

Origins

The earliest recorded Stonewall Attack seems to be Howard Staunton against John Cochrane, London 1842. The first player to use it regularly was the Boston master Preston Ware, who often opened 1.d4 and 2.f4 between 1876 and 1882. His greatest success with it was a win over future World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz at the strong Vienna tournament of 1882.

In 1893 Harry Nelson Pillsbury played it six times in two New York tournaments and won all six games. After that it became established in master play: Jackson Showalter, Frank Marshall and F.J. Lee used it often, and Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Rubinstein and Tarrasch were among the others who played it. By the early 1920s it began to disappear from top-level chess, but it is still a popular choice at club level.

The idea

The pawn chain controls the central dark squares, especially e5, an outpost for a knight. The light squares the pawns leave behind are covered by the bishop on d3 and the knight on d2. If Black allows it, White attacks the king directly with ideas such as Bxh7, Qh5 and the rook lift Rf3–h3.

A 1981 Chess Life article showed how fast this can go against weak defence: 1.d4 d5 2.f4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.Nbd2 b6 9.Ne5 Bb7 10.g4 Qc7 11.g5 Nd7 12.Bxh7+ Kxh7 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Rf3 f6 15.Rh3 fxe5 16.g6. Experienced players will not fall for this, but in the Stonewall's best years White often got a dangerous initiative even against masters.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

• One fixed pawn formation to aim for, with no long lines to memorise.
• A strong square on e5 and clear attacking plans on the kingside.

Weaknesses

• The pawn structure is inflexible.
• The light squares stay weak for the whole game.
• The bishop on c1 is a bad bishop, hemmed in by White's own pawns.

Who plays it

The American IM Yaacov Norowitz has played it a lot in online blitz with considerable success. Black's version of the structure is the Stonewall Dutch, one of the main lines of the Dutch Defence, with which Magnus Carlsen has beaten Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 50.9% of the 2.8 million games and Black 44.4%. Under 1400 it is 50.2% against 46.0%, between 1400 and 1799 51.6% against 44.5%, and between 1800 and 2199 50.7% against 44.4%. From 2200 up the two sides are almost level: 46.9% against 46.5%. In 215 master games over the board Black won 35.3%, White 27.4%, and 37.2% were drawn.