By IM John Donaldson, USA Olympic Team Captain and author
Pairing the French and Dutch Defenses together has a long tradition dating back to Mikhail Botvinnik who made these openings his mainstays. One benefit is being able to meet 1.d4 with 1…e6 and only later …f5, in so doing avoiding many of the tricky lines after 1.d4 f5 like 2.Nc3 and 2.Bg5, etc.
Yap not only advocates for the Dutch, but for the Stonewall variation. Here he varies from the Sixth World Champion in recommending lines with Black’s bishop on d6 instead of e7. This is part of a trend toward more flexibility with the fianchetto of Black’s queen bishop an alternative to the traditional …Bc8-d7-e8-h5. Aiming for …c5 is not something old school Stonewall users often did but is commonly seen today.
The Winawer variation (3.Nc3 Bb4), the Tarrasch (3…a6) and …Nc6 and …Qb6 versus the Advance are recommended lines in the French in this well researched book.
