The Dutch defence for black [1. d4 f5 ]
I borrowed Neil McDonald's book on the Dutch defence from Hackney Library. [They've got three books on openings as far as I can see and two of them are on the French defence.] I flicked through it and decided it fulfilled my opening criteria:
- Easy to understand what the main objectives are
- Not too heavy in long theoretical lines [eg Sicilian Dragon]
- High likelihood that you'll get to play it as it starts on your first move.
Finally I was due to play it for the first time against a human opponent as Hackney were playing DHSS. That day at work I ran though a game with Fritz on my phone. Around move eight in the mainline Leningrad Dutch my position started to implode. The problem is that 1. Black's position is full of holes 2. The player of the black pieces needs to know what they're doing.
I decided not to play it. As it turns out I had black, my opponent played 1.d4 and I stuck with my usual 1....c5 and got a draw against a stronger player. He probably should have won but for some reason didn't swap his Queen for my two Rooks towards the end when he was running short of time. In that game I finally understood aboutv the importance of gain of tempo in the opening - in initiating an exchange of pawns and pieces I reached a position where it was his move. Had he initiated it and made the first capture I could have ended up in the same position but with the advantage of having the move.
I'm going to stick with playing it online or against weaker players. I'm also looking at a Stonewall-Leningrad hybrid [a Stonewall set up but the fianchettoed king's bishop. There's probably a good reason why it doesn't exist.].
Useful links:
The games in Neil McDonald's Starting Out: The Dutch Defence on Chessgames (buy it on Amazon UK)
