I was long a fan of the Dutch Defence system (1...e5, 2...d3, 3...f5) against the english. These days I'm finding it leading to (almost) sterile types of games.

hmmm interesting comment.

Must protect e5 and d6 seems as good as anything giving space to develop my white squared bishop. Not sure if I want to go in for a four knights sort of development which I think usually (in my games anyway!) seems gives white an advantage. I would rather be in a position to kick his knight straight off of D5 with my c pawn if he wants to gallop onto that square

White is aggressive in the battle for the centre. Can I play e4? or g6?..no I don't want a white pawn on d5 congesting all my queenside pieces. It would make queenside develpment very difficult and frustrating. Can I play c6?..no same problem only worse! Nc6 looks suicidal. This a simple decision for me... I play exd4.

I want to castle but don't fancy whites dark squared bishop pinning my knight against my queen if I try to fiancetto my black squared bishop by moving g6, so I will develop my bishop onto e7.

It looks like Zed is going to get her bishop on the long diagonal then safely castle kingside. That diagonal is very strong for white it's going to cause me some headaches later. I think I'll get my Queen's Knight to d7 then to b6 then maybe I can free up my game a bit with c6 followed by d5.

I'll carry on with my plan to overprotect the contentious d5 square. I think I will play c6 before redeploying my knight to leave the knights options open in case anything unexpected happens next. If white plays e4 before castling I may have to redirect my knight onto c5. Ok I think I'm reasonably solid...lets play c6.

White has moved her knight back to f3..of course d4 is now protected by her Queen as well as pawn and knight. Well I carry on with my plan to sieze control of that key square d4...I will play Nb6 as planned.

I want to play d5 straight away, but I don't want whites black squared bishop undermining my N on f6 that is supporting d5. I also want to castle very soon. I think the priority is to restrict whites bishop that could potentially remove a defender of the square d5 so I will perhaps play the quiet move h6 first. If he wants to push b4 then I simply play d5 and then if white plays c5, I post my knight on c5 where it will have loads of potential menace and also protect the square e6. I can quite easily strong-point my knight on the c5 square if necessary with a supporting pawn on the b file and/or Bishop on a6. Yes I will play h6.

Lets get my Bishop out and try to provoke a weakness on the Kingside by tempting White to play h3....Bg4.

OK I was expecting that. It makes White Kingside a little bit weaker and gives me a potential target. Ill play Bf4 this gives me the most options for further retreat. It is controlling a good diagonal here.

Time to decide where my King is going. If the centre was locked I might have castled Queenside and try to launch a Kingside attack. It's too dangerous there now..I'll castle Kingside and blast my rooks up the centre.

13.e4...I was half expecting that after Whites rook came to e1. Now crunch time, if I play Bishop e6 it's just going to be crunching on granite with Whites pawn formation on the Queenside and White can also play Nd4 pushing my Bishop away with gain of tempo. So Bd7 or Bh7?...Bd7 should be OK for a Kingside attack possibly followed by Qc8 aiming at h3, white can then respond with Kh2 or g4...it looks promising but he then has Nd4 or Nh4 followed by Bb2 and Qf3 and it gets very complicated. If I play Bh7 my Bishop is working hard on the long diagonal towards the centre. I think the main stage for this battle looks like it's going to be the centre so I will play 13. Bh7 where it can usefully slice the board in half along the h7-c1 diagonal. 14.White has positioned her dark squared Bishop on an even stronger diagonal than my white squared Bishop. I'm a bit nervous about that aiming at my Kings position. Whites central bind with her c and e pawns also makes me feel uncomfortable and not very much in control. What happens if I clear the air a bit with d5? If white pushes e5 I can play Ne4 and I like my position but if White exchanges it blasts lots of pieces away, the position becomes very open and it could be roughly equal but I think White initially ends up with her pieces in more harmony than mine, so frustratingly I don't want to play d5 yet..but my d6 pawn is weak and very attackable as it now stands...However, I may not get another chance to play the freeing move d5. Unless I can come up with an alternative plan I may have to play it now. Playing Qc7 and then doubling my rooks on the d file has got a good feel about it but it's slow...she may play e5 straight away, no I can just take it and my position has improved because when she recaptures I can then play Bd6 which looks very strong. Yes Qc7

Looks like White has similar ideas. well I'm not going to hang about. Rd8 faces off her Queen and may create some tactical threats there....Rad8 leaves options open for my other rook to go to e1 or I could double rooks on the e or d file. Lets see what happens. Rad8

16....Putting my rook on the same file as Whites Queen is so natural a move to prepare a combination that it doesn't really need to much thinking, just need to make sure I'm leaving nothing open. OK a quick check tells me it's OK so Rfe8. 17.Rad1 My a pawn is unprotected which means I can't move my knight from c6 it's pinned...that's annoying. Maybe I'll just play a6 or a5. Can I just play 17...Nbd7?..it overprotectse5 and can hop to c5 a good square or I could start to advance my Queenside pawns. Maybe if I do play Nbd7 White can't take my a pawn with her Queen ..it looks dangerous...she would probably lose her Queen after 18...c5 and Ra8. Oh...she can play 19.Nb5 and her Queen escapes. What if I play 18....Nb6?..No she can then play Qa3 and after 19.Ra8 she can interpose the knight. OK finally what if I play 18...Nc5...yes that's the move!...if she retreats her Q with 19.Qa3 I play 19....Ra8, she interposes with the Knight on a4 and I play b5 winning material.

She hasn't taken the poisoned pawn of course. mmm.... both her rooks are on the same diagonal..can I make use of that. Maybe get my dark xquared bishop to b4? Lets see..if I push d5 and we exchange some bits I have lots of resources such as Bb4 with a discovered attack on he Queen and double attack on her knight. If she defends the knight with Qd3 or Qd4 I have another discovered attack on her Queen by moving my knight on d7...Yes it can't be bad. It is very complex and I can't work out all the combinations...but positional nous says it must be strong. What if I play d5 and White plays e4 ...thats OK I can play Bc5 which is strong. probably winning a pawn and if she responds to d5 with Qxa3 I think I can still win her Queen....OK lets go for it.......d5!