Dearest Stonewall,

It’s over.  I’m sorry.

It’s hard even to pen these words to you, though I’m sure that the pain will pass in time.  But this has to be done; I’m breaking up with you, once and for all.  Please don’t try to convince me otherwise – you know the effect you have on me.  If you love me the way you claim to, you’ll let me go, for both of our sakes.

This is how GM David Smerdon starts his latest blog, about his relationship with an opening he's played for a long time: the Stonewall Dutch. From what we understand, the two travelled a bumpy road of love together, but now it seems to be over:

I know we said we’d be together forever, but sometimes things just have to end.  You see, I just can’t put up with the hurt any more.  Time and time again you burn me, only to suck me in once more with promises of improvement. “It’ll be better next time”, you’d say, staring at me with those soft f5-d5 eyes, pointing straight at the outpost of my heart.  “Things just kind of happened, but it was only this one time”, you’d plead after yet another heartbreaking loss.  “My love for you is rock solid”, you’d lie, as I’d watch yet another line of my defenses crumble under a white assault.

In case you missed it, find David's full blog post here (which, by the way, he wrote on his 28th birthday. What a moment to break up with someone!)