Learn the Lean and Mean Leningrad Dutch in Just 20 Lines
If you’re looking to shake things up against 1.d4, you can play the Dutch.
But if you’re looking for
all-out war against 1.d4, you can play the
Leningrad Dutch.
This monster of an opening is the perfect solution for players who want to get their opponents out of highly researched, theoretical openings and play
inventive chess where they can engineer their own winning novelties.
By playing 1...f5 and quickly making a kingside fianchetto, you’ll immediately create a positional imbalance which sows the seeds of
vibrant, tactical play. Not only will your g7 bishop glare down the a1-h8 diagonal with authority, you’ll get commanding control of the center with your pawns that will set the stage for a blistering kingside attack. Just look at the harmonious attacking setup of the main line:
Your light-squared bishop might look inactive on c8, but in actuality, it’ll often be the MVP in a kingside attack. And you know that f5 pawn is destined to go to f4 soon! Such is the beauty of the Leningrad setup.
Little to Learn, But Much to Be Learned
And perhaps the best part about the Leningrad Dutch is that it is relatively
light on theory - especially compared to other 1.d4 defenses like the Slav, Queen’s Gambit, and King’s Indian Defense.
In fact, if you take the main course,
Leningrad Dutch: An Uncompromising, Attacking Opening, you’ll have a
complete Black repertoire against 1.d4, 1.c4,
and 1.Nf3 after learning just over 400 trainable variations.
But, as course author and
FIDE Master Michiel Abeln will explain, there’s a paradox here: despite little need to learn theory and memorize lines rote, you’ll gain a
much stronger understanding of positional chess by playing the Leningrad Dutch just from the positions that tend to arise. In fact, this phenomenon helped him increase his rating more than
150 Elo points - just from playing the Leningrad Dutch!
So if you want to play positional attacking chess against 1.d4 and have fun doing it, you definitely want to try this free sample of
The Leningrad Dutch: An Uncompromising, Attacking Opening - get it for free today.
