Dutch Defense:Stonewall Variation

Black puts pawns on c6, d5, e6 and f5 — a “stone wall” that controls e4 but leaves a hole on e5.

It is reached after 12 moves: 1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d5. It is a line of the Dutch Defense.

White is to move and has 34 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,305,074 different games. Those games reach 407,248 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.2 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 5 further lines after this position, such as Botvinnik Variation (7. b3).

The same moves can be played in 3,240 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. O-O d5, which starts as the Horwitz Defense.