I’m finding the Stonewall Attack quite challenging to play. It’s probably me, because it’s effective in the early stages but I’ve played a few games trying it out and I keep encountering moves that throw a spanner in the works and end up playing defensively as a result.

I won the latest but it was partly because of opportunities missed by my opponent. It’s the knoght move from f3-e5 that people seem to notice is a risk to them ahead of time and they either pull an f7-f6 pawn move (like the game linked below), jump their knight in first or otherwise defend that spot.

Black playing h7-h6 also seems quite an effective defence.

I’m going to rewatch Nelson’s Stonewall video yet again (I’ve watched it multiple times already) because I’m sure I must be missing something. I’ve tried to Stonewall in my recent games but I feel that it’s the cause of me dropping from a peak of 1000 to the mid 900s where I am now.

Should I perservere or pivot to a different white opening?

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/120639504148?tab=review

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