Thanks Brabo and Daniel!

The information you've given me should be plenty for me to get started on doing my own research and helping my students to do theirs!  I'll let you know how things turn out when someone in my group faces it next.  (Which may be a while.)

Quote:


If white doesn't play g3 then I only play in exceptional cases (e.g. Nc3 without c4) the stonewall. I don't like to play against the line with Bf4 so I avoid it by playing schemes with b6 or Bb4 sometimes transposing to well knows Nimzo Indian or Queen Indian setups. E.g. 1. d4, f5 2. Nf3, Nf6 3. c4, e6 4. Nc3, Bb4 5. Qb3, Qe7 6. a3, Bc3+: 7. Qc3:, 0-0 8. g3, b6 9. Bg2, Bb7 10. 0-0, d6 11. b4, Nbd7 12. Bb2, Be4 and black is fine like in my game against GM Raetsky.

Quote:


I don't understand why somebody would teach a stonewall to his students. I coach myself some guys and although I play the Dutch stonewall for more than 10 years, I never recommend it to yougsters. This year it costed me again more than a month to save the opening and an opening like that which is on the margin of being dubious is not a good opening to start with.
There are a lot of critical lines but if I would have white then I would try out the following line although I won my last game in this variation against a FM.
1. d4, f5 2. g3, Nf6 3. Bg2, e6 4. c4, d5 5. Nf3, c6 6. 0-0, Bd6 7. Bf4. I've plenty of fresh analysis made about this variation and black really needs to know what he is doing.

Quote:


I play the move Bd6-e7 myself already for many years. The idea is to avoid swopping off your good bishop after which the black squares would become too weak in blacks camp and make use of the fact that the bishop now occupies the square for whites knight which means white will lose time like in the game here below. Even Kramnik recommends the move and gives good chances for equalty. The following game proves again that the line is fully playable. Remark the date (yesterday) again against a much higher rated player.
[Event "58th ch-RUS Semi-Final"]
[Site "Kazan RUS"]
[Date "2005.09.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Sakaev,K"]
[Black "Iljushin,A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2669"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[EventDate "2005.09.03"]
[ECO "A90"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c6 5. Nh3 d5 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bf4 Be7 8.
Nd2 O-O 9. Nf3 Nbd7 10. Bd2 Ne4 11. Nf4 Ndf6 12. Rc1 Bd6 13. c5 Nxd2 14.
Qxd2 Bc7 15. Ne5 Qe7 16. Qe3 Re8 17. Nfd3 Nd7 18. f4 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Bd7 20.
Rc3 b6 21. Rfc1 Bxe5 22. Qxe5 bxc5 23. Rxc5 Qf6 24. Ra5 Qxe5 25. fxe5 Reb8
26. b3 Kf7 27. e3 Rb5 28. Ra6 Rb6 29. Ra5 Rb5 30. Rc5 Rxa5 31. Rxa5 Ke7 32.
h4 Kd8 33. Bf3 Kc7 34. b4 Kb6 35. g4 fxg4 36. Bxg4 h5 37. Bxh5 Rh8 38. Be2
Rxh4 39. Kg2 Be8 40. Ra6+ Kb7 41. b5 Bd7 42. bxc6+ Bxc6 43. Ra3 Rh8 44. Rc3
Bd7 45. Rb3+ Kc7 46. Ra3 Ra8 47. Ra5 Kb7 48. Ra6 Bc6 49. a4 Bd7 50. Bb5 Bc8
51. Kg3 Kc7 52. Rc6+ Kd8 53. Kf4 Rb8 54. Kg5 Rb6 55. Kg6 Rxc6 56. Bxc6 Ke7
57. Kxg7 a5 58. Kh6 Ba6 59. e4 dxe4 60. Bxe4 Bc4 61. Bc6 Ba2 62. Kg5 Bb3
63. Kf4 Ba2 64. Ke4 Bb1+ 65. Ke3 Ba2 66. Kd3 Bb3 67. Kc3 Ba2 68. Bf3 Kf7
69. Bh5+ Ke7 70. Bf3 Kf7 71. Bd1 Bd5 72. Bb3 Bc6 73. Kd3 Ke7 74. Ke3 Kf7
75. Bc2 Ke7 76. Kd3 Bd5 77. Kc3 Kf7 78. Bd1 Ke7 79. Be2 Bc6 80. Bb5 Bd5 81.
Kd3 Kf7 82. Bc4 1/2-1/2

Just a quick observation and question:  The Fillipov-Iljushin game quoted above has a 7th move I've never seen before:  7...Bd6-e7.  That just looks all wrong to me.  Does anyone know more about that move's pedigree?

Have you looked at my final suggestion 1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 d5 5.Bd3 c6 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Nf3 (in stead of your favourite 7.f3) o-o 8.h3 ?

Assuming that you want to keep the Rubinstein setup against the IZ on your repertoire, what about changing move order with 4.Qc2 d5 5.Bf4 or d6 5.e3 or c6 5.Bf4 d6 6.Nf3 (6.e4!?) Be7 (also Na6 7.e4) 7.e4 and White is better according Williams' rule?

This looks easier to me, than developing a whole new repertoire against the Stonewall, the IZ ánd the Bb4 variations.

[Event "58th ch-RUS Semi-Final"]
[Site "Kazan RUS"]
[Date "2005.09.03"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Filippov,Va"]
[Black "Iljushin,A"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteElo "2621"]
[BlackElo "2531"]
[EventDate "2005.09.03"]
[ECO "A90"]

1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 c6 5. Nh3 d5 6. O-O Bd6 7. Bf4 Be7 8.
Nd2 O-O 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. Nf3 Ne4 11. Ne5 Nxe5 12. Bxe5 Nd6 13. cxd5 exd5 14.
Nf4 Nf7 15. Nd3 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 f4 17. gxf4 Rxf4 18. e3 Rf6 19. f4 Bf5 20.
Qe2 Bd6 21. Kh1 Rh6 22. Bf3 Rh3 23. Bg2 Rh6 24. Rf2 Qe7 25. Bf3 Rh3 26. Rg1
Bxe5 27. dxe5 Rxf3 28. Rxf3 Be4 29. Rgg3 Rd8 30. Kg1 Bxf3 31. Rxf3 c5 32.
Rf1 Qe6 33. Rd1 d4 34. exd4 cxd4 35. b3 Qg6+ 36. Kf2 d3 37. Qf3 d2 38. Qxb7
Qh5 39. Qf3 Qxh2+ 40. Ke3 g5 41. Qg4 Qxf4+ 42. Qxf4 gxf4+ 43. Kxf4 Kf7 44.
b4 Ke6 45. b5 Rd4+ 46. Ke3 Kxe5 47. a4 Rxa4 48. Rxd2 Re4+ 49. Kf3 Rf4+ 50.
Ke3 Rf7 51. Rh2 Re7 52. Rh5+ Kf6+ 53. Kf4 Rb7 54. Rc5 Kg6 55. Kg4 Rd7 56.
Rc6+ Kf7 57. Rh6 Ke8 58. Kf4 Kf8 59. Ra6 Ke7 60. Kg4 1/2-1/2

As you can see the stonewall against Nh3 is still alive and kicking. I play this line with 9.., h6 inviting white to take on b8 but Iljushins Nbd7 seems also worth a shot.

My personal feeling and many years experience tells me that Nf3 is more critical than Nh3.

Yes Nh3 is the most challenging setup against the Stonewall. The reason for this is that 1) white wants to trade dark square bishops without having his pawn structure ruined and 2) the maneuver MNb gave. Note that the reason the Modern Stonewall (Bd6) against Nf3 is considered fully equal while the Classical (Be7)stonewall is considered somewhat suspect is because white can force a trade via b3 and Ba3 against the later but Qe7 prevents this against the Modern Stonewall. 

Alas, 1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 c6 and white is a quandry. 5.Nh3 and black need not play the stonewall but can instead switch to MNb beloved classical, where c6 isn't the greatest but Nh3 is a bigger concession. 5.Nf3 and black can choose the Nf3 modern stonewall. 5.Nc3 and the classical stonewall is fine. My conclusion, if black is flexible and is willing to play all three of these (granted not every player will be that flexible) he can avoid the Nh3 line against the modern. (Incidently, the line does provide advantage for white and again not every stonewall player will understand the subtlety of c6)

What then to do?
1)Learn the french Ok, perhaps not everyone is willing to be that flexible but I believe white has a bigger chance of an advantage against the French than against the Modern Stonewall with Nf3 and while a majority of 1...e6 players also play the French I've been suprised by the number of people I've met who pray white doesn't answer 2.e4 ("They're d4 players, they would never play the french")
2)Pawn structure be darned. Play Bf4 even without Nh3 supporting it.
3)A setup with c4, d4, Bf4, e3 eyeing a g4 push. Against the stonewall this gives advantage but again if black is flexible he can play the I-Z (aka classical dutch) where MNb has a big thread.
4)Same as above only with the dark squared bishop inside the pawn chain. Again, same problem only if black insists on stonewall not as good as 3.
5)A setup similair to what you were trying only with a queenside fianchetto. Black has lots of time to prepare against the e4 break however.
6)Just play the fianchetto mainline against the Stonewall.
Alas, in the hands of someone who knows its subtleties and can play the classical the stonewall gives full equality.