[1] Like its 1.e4 counterpart, the Sicilian Defence, the Dutch is an aggressive and unbalancing opening, resulting in the lowest percentage of draws among the most common replies to 1.d4.

The Dutch has never been a main line against 1.d4 and is rarely seen today in high-level competition, although a number of top players, including Alexander Alekhine, Bent Larsen, Paul Morphy, Miguel Najdorf, Simon Williams, and Hikaru Nakamura[3] have used it with success.

[5] The Stonewall Dutch enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the 1980s and 1990s, when leading grandmasters (GMs) Artur Yusupov, Sergey Dolmatov, Nigel Short, and Simen Agdestein helped develop the system where Black plays an earlier ...d5 and places his dark-squared bishop on d6.

The opening's attacking potential is shown in the Polish Immortal, in which Miguel Najdorf, using the Stonewall Variation, sacrificed all of his minor pieces to win by checkmate.

The ECO codes for the Stonewall Variation of the Dutch Defence are A90 to A92: An aggressive attempt by White to sacrifice a pawn with 2.e4!?

[13] GM Larry Christiansen and International Master Jeremy Silman have opined that it "offers White equality at best".

The Staunton Gambit remains a good choice of opening for White in blitz tournaments where Black has little time to ponder the most accurate defence.