Dutch Defence

This is the Dutch defence, the fourth most common way to meet 1. d4. Black controls the central e4 square with their flank f-pawn.

Because it does not develop or prepare to develop a piece (cf. 1...Nf6 and 1...d5 respectively), 1...f5 is less popular than Black's other options to control e4. In addition, moving the f-pawn so early, before Black has castled, is not for the faint of heart because it weakens Black's kingside. An illustration of this is the classic beginner's trap in the Hopton attack: 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 g5 3. Bg3 f4 (thinking to trap the bishop) 4. e3 fxg3?? 5. Qh5#.

However, the Dutch is very combative, with an original character compared to other 1. d4 openings. Black intends to get maximum value out of a kingside attack.

White's main approach against the Dutch is a set-up with Bg2, Nf3, short castling, and c4 by one of a number of move orders. 2. g3 is the main move, though 2. c4 or 2. Nf3 are also common and usually transpose.

Black chooses between two plans for their kingside bishop: either to fianchetto it with ...g6 and ...Bg7, called the called the Leningrad Dutch, e.g. 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7; or ...e6 and ...Be7, where they may then choose either ...d6, the classical variation, or an early ...d5 to clamp down on e4, called the stonewall variation, e.g. in the move order 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d5.

If 2. e4?! anyway, the Staunton gambit, Black should be very happy to trade their flank pawn for the more valuable central pawn, 2...fxe5. The Staunton gambit makes sense conceptually―Black has weakened their kingside and slowed down their development, therefore White should open the centre and attack―but while there are many traps available to White involving the weakened e8-h5 diagonal, against best play White is no better than equal.

Other sidelines include:

2. Bg5, the Hopton attack. If White can't play e4, then they want to ensure the bishop is developed before playing e3. If Black plays 2...Nf6 then White is happy to trade their bishop for it and double Black's pawns. Black can expand on the kingside with tempo against White's bishop, 2...h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. Bg3, so long as they avoid the famous trap (above), or leave the bishop there for now and play 2...g6, ...Bg7 etc.

2. Nc3, the Raphael variation. From c3 the knight may help support playing e4 and opening the centre, (e.g. 2...Nf6 (controls e4) 3. Bg5 e6?! 4. e4 fxe4 5. Nxe4⩲, where 5...h6?? is a rookie error) but usually they games involve Bg5 and e3 as in the Hopton attack, e.g. 2...Nf6 3. Bg5 d5 (to control e4) 4. Bxf6 exf6 5. e3 intending Bd3.

2. g4?!, the Krejcik gambit, looks to deflect the f5 pawn from control of e4. However, after 2...fxg4 and ...d5 (defending g4 with the queen's bishop), White will have trouble recapturing the bothersome pawn and find they can't make much of e4 anyway.

Dutch chess master Elias Stein recommended the move 1...f5 in his 1789 Nouvel essai sur le jeu des échecs (French: New essay on the game of chess) as an alternative to avoid the queen's gambit, 1. d4 d5 2. c4.^[1]

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, 2. e4?!, the Staunton gambit, was considered critical. In 1931, Tarrasch gave the line 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. f3! exf3, with White being better.^[2]

Though it was never the main line, the Dutch received renewed interest in the 20th century, especially with reappraisal of 2. e4?!. Its most significant outing was in the 1951 World Chess Championship, where it was adopted by Mikhail Botvinnik^[3]

1. d4 f5

Wikipedia has related information at Dutch Defence.

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.