A Specialist Weapon with 2.Bg5
In September 2025, GM Pier Luigi Basso argued the other side of this question. In a Black repertoire for the Dutch, he showed how to take the sting out of the irritating 2.Bg5 — and the line he trusted most, after 2...h6 3.Bh4 g5, was 5...c5 6.c3 Qb6, which he judged fully playable for Black.
This course is his reply to himself. Returning as White, Basso went hunting for an improvement against the exact defence he had built, and found it in a single quiet move: 13.Qd1!N, which hands White a small but durable edge in the one line Black was relying on for equality.
One move that rewrites the opening
The whole repertoire starts with 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5. The point is positional, not tactical: 2.Bg5 takes the ...e6 move away, so the Classical and the Stonewall — the two structures the Dutch player has spent years learning — are simply off the board.
Black is out of his preparation before move three, and against everything except two serious tries he is worse straight out of the opening — all from a line most White players have never taken seriously.
The practical case is just as strong. Instead of maintaining separate theory against the Leningrad, the Stonewall and the Classical, you learn one system and dictate the character of the game from move two, against an opening you meet only a few times a year.
Variation Map
1.d4 f5 2.Bg5
2...h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.e3 — Black’s most direct and best try
- 4...Bg7 5.Bg3 c5 6.c3 Qb6 — the critical defence, met by 13.Qd1!N → Chapter 5
- 4...Nf6 5.Bg3 Bg7 6.Nc3 d6 7.h4 g4 8.Bc4 → Chapter 6
2...Nf6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 d5 5.c4 — the structure is damaged for free → Chapter 2
2...g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e3
- 5...d5 6.Bf4 — the Stonewall set-up → Chapter 3
- 5...d6 6.Bc4 → Chapter 4
2...d6 3.e4! — a Staunton Gambit with a free extra tempo → Chapter 7
2...c5 3.e4! cxd4 4.exf5 Qa5+ 5.Qd2! — the Benoni-style try → Chapter 8
2...c6 3.Nd2! — the anti-theory move of Carlsen and Nakamura → Chapter 9
(Chapter 1 is a full Overview, mapping every reply to 2.Bg5 and where each is answered.)
Why the author is the right guide
Having built the Black side of this exact fight himself, Basso knows precisely where the Dutch player wants the game to go — and refuses to take him there. The analysis is honest about it: not a claim that every line is a forced win, but a demonstration that
White is comfortably better everywhere, and genuinely close to a refutation in Black’s weaker tries.
Course Features
- 9 chapters, with video instruction throughout
- 2 model games, including a 2026 encounter against GM Rapport
- 5 “Things to Know” showing the key recurring ideas
- 20 test positions
- 5 training positions to practice against the engine
- Memory File — every critical line refreshed in about ten minutes
- Memory Booster
- To-Go version of the chapters
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
Build the rest of the repertoire
This is a self-contained anti-Dutch system — it plugs into any 1.d4 move order and asks nothing extra of your preparation. If you want the rest of the White repertoire from the same hand, Basso’s 1.d4 According to Dreev series (with GM Alexey Dreev) is a complete 1.d4 framework in the same practical, understanding-first spirit. Where that series meets the Dutch as one of many sidelines, this course gives it a full, specialist repertoire of its own.
Pick up Fight the Dutch Defense and meet 1...f5 with a single, low-maintenance system that puts the Dutch player on the defensive from the second move.
SAMPLE CHAPTER
SAMPLE VIDEO