What is blacks most common middlegame plan in the stonewall Dutch?
Black wants to start a kingside attack, using the pawns in front of the king. Typical moves are Ne4 followed by g5 and h5. The queen goes to e8 and h5, or sometimes to f6 and g7. The queen’s knight might go to f6 and g4, or just trade itself for whites knight on e5. Finally, don’t forget a rook lift (Rf6 or Rf7). How does the bad light-squared bishop get out? There are three strategies: <1> Play b6 and then Bb7 or Ba6; <2> Go the long way via d7-e8-h5; <3> If white ever advances his c-pawn to c5 (so that it no longer attacks your d5 pawn), then you can play e5 to open the e6 square for your bishop. What should black do if white takes the d5 pawn with the c4 pawn? You want to play exd5. However, sure your f5 pawn doesn’t hang in the meantime. A smart chess player will realize ahead of time that white is threatening the f5 pawn after white takes cxd5. Watch out if white plays Bd3 or Qc2! When does the dark-squared bishop belong on e7 instead of d6? This is really an advanced topic. Here
