Dutch defence

[Jon Mahony]

I had quite a bit of success with the Dutch in the minor and intermediate sections - I used to tweak the move order slightly by responding to 1.d4 with 1... e6 and hope for a transposition into a French with 2.e4 (something most QP players don’t usually oblige you with) and then if 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 just 2… f5 then. The move order avoids the sharp 2.Bg5 as well - which you really need to know what you’re doing as black (I liked it from the white side).

2.Nf3 gives black a pretty comfortable game straight away, the knight doesn’t always belong on f3 in a lot of variations and believe it or not is better on h3 - a lot of opponents in the minor are London / Colle players, so you will get this move a lot - White will be hoping for 2...d5 next, getting them into familiar turf.

Of course the downside of 1...e6 is you will have to be prepared for the occasional French transposition.

If you find books hard work get hold of Simon Williams’ “Killer Dutch” DVD, it’s pretty in-depth and got me started playing the opening.

[Richard Bates]

I had quite a bit of success with the Dutch in the minor and intermediate sections - I used to tweak the move order slightly by responding to 1.d4 with 1... e6 and hope for a transposition into a French with 2.e4 (something most QP players don’t usually oblige you with) and then if 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 just 2… f5 then. The move order avoids the sharp 2.Bg5 as well - which you really need to know what you’re doing as black (I liked it from the white side).

2.Nf3 gives black a pretty comfortable game straight away...

Thought I must have been going wrong somewhere.

[Jon Mahony]

I had quite a bit of success with the Dutch in the minor and intermediate sections - I used to tweak the move order slightly by responding to 1.d4 with 1... e6 and hope for a transposition into a French with 2.e4 (something most QP players don’t usually oblige you with) and then if 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 just 2… f5 then. The move order avoids the sharp 2.Bg5 as well - which you really need to know what you’re doing as black (I liked it from the white side).

2.Nf3 gives black a pretty comfortable game straight away...

Thought I must have been going wrong somewhere.

Lol well you only outgrade me by 100 points

[Richard Bates]

I had quite a bit of success with the Dutch in the minor and intermediate sections - I used to tweak the move order slightly by responding to 1.d4 with 1... e6 and hope for a transposition into a French with 2.e4 (something most QP players don’t usually oblige you with) and then if 2.c4 or 2.Nf3 just 2… f5 then. The move order avoids the sharp 2.Bg5 as well - which you really need to know what you’re doing as black (I liked it from the white side).

2.Nf3 gives black a pretty comfortable game straight away...

Thought I must have been going wrong somewhere.

Lol well you only outgrade me by 100 points

Means nothing when i’m playing against the Dutch

[Alan Walton]

2.Nf3 gives black a pretty comfortable game straight away, the knight doesn’t always belong on f3 in a lot of variations and believe it or not is better on h3 - a lot of opponents in the minor are London / Colle players, so you will get this move a lot - White will be hoping for 2...d5 next, getting them into familiar turf.

It is not quite that simple; if you play the "normal" stuff against 2. Nf3 f5 3. Bf4 then white gets a easy game to play; I had this position last year in the 4NCL and my position was quite uncomfortable for a while but scrapped a fortunate draw out of it

[Gary Senior]

After d4 e6 e4 you also have the option of b6 if you don’t know the French.

[Simon Rogers]

After e4, b6 is very good, as it transposes into the Owen's Defence.
I have played this a number of times and have taken a number of big scalps, including our former Blackpool and Fylde League Chairman, John Cooper.
There is also an offbeat line where Black can castle on the queenside if white commits his king to early.
There is a book by the French Grandmaster Christian Bauer called play 1...b6 which came out in 2005.

[Simon Rogers]

There is an excellent book by Neil McDonald
Starting Out: The Dutch Defence.
I have the 2004 Edition. I find the Starting Out series of books very informative and ideal for the average club player.
The book features The Sonewall, Leningrad and Classical.
There is also a piece on the Staunton Gambit.
These books not just explain the theory but also gives you hints and tips.

[Paul Robert Jackson]

A game in which you played the Dutch Defence Robert.

Event "18th 4NCL Congress"] [Site "Doncaster"] [Date "2018.04.14"] [Round "3.15"] [White "Jackson, Paul Robert"] [Black "Stokes, Robert S"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A80"] [WhiteElo "109"] [BlackElo "112"] [Annotator "Jackson,Paul Robert"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2018.02.23"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "5"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 d6 3. e3 Be6 4. Nf3 Nd7 5. Be2 Ngf6 6. Bxf6 Nxf6 7. Nbd2 h6 8. c3 Qd7 9. Bc4 O-O-O 10. Qb3 Bxc4 11. Nxc4 c6 12. h3 g5 13. O-O-O Bg7 14. Nfd2 Qc7 15. Qc2 e6 16. e4 d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Rde1 Rde8 19. Ne3 Qd6 20. Ndc4 Qc7 21. Nxd5 cxd5 22. Ne5 Bxe5 23. Rxe5 Qf7 24. Rhe1 Re7 25. Qe2 Rhe8 26. Kd2 f4 27. c4 f3 28. Qxf3 Qxf3 29. gxf3 dxc4 30. Kc3 Kd7 31. Kxc4 Rc8+ 32. Rc5 Rf8 33. Re3 b6 34. Rce5 a6 35. d5 Rfe8 36. dxe6+ (36. Kd4) 36... Rxe6 37. Rxe6 Rxe6 38. Rxe6 Kxe6 39. Kd4 Kf5 40. Kd5 Kf4 41. Kc6 Kxf3 42. Kxb6 Kxf2 43. Kxa6 Kg3 44. b4 Kxh3 45. b5 g4 46. b6 g3 47. b7 g2 48. b8=Q g1=Q 49. Qc8+ 1/2-1/2