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Guided lesson · Improver · Openings

Against the London, with Black

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The London System has become the most popular opening in club chess for an understandable reason: White plays d4, Bf4, e3, c3, Bd3 and Nf3 almost whatever happens, so there's nothing to study. That same virtue is its weak point — because it always does the same thing, it always has the same two holes, and you don't need any theory to press them. The first is that the bishop goes to f4 before anyone defends b2, so a black queen on b6 hits a pawn left without its natural guard. The second is that the f4 bishop is White's best piece, and since no other piece can replace it, trading it leaves his game without shine. Those two ideas are enough to give him a real game.

The key idea

Two fixed targets, always the same: the b2 square, left without a defender once the bishop goes to f4, and the f4 bishop itself, which you trade off with ...Nh5. Hit both and the system runs out of plan.

Example 1 · The two blows, one after the other

...c5 and ...Qb6 aim at b2; then ...Nh5 goes after the bishop. Watch how White has to answer everything.

  1. Qc2 First discomfort for White, and nothing has even happened yet. My queen on b6 hits b2, and his b1 knight can't defend it without shutting itself in; the bishop went to f4 and isn't coming back. So he has to spend the queen on covering. A system that always plays the same way always has the same hole.
  2. Nc6 Natural development and pressure on d4. I don't need a single odd move: my pieces come out to their lifelong squares and all of them point at his centre.
  3. Nf3 White carries on with his usual plan.
  4. Nh5 And now the second target. The knight goes to the rim on purpose: it wants to trade itself for the f4 bishop, the only piece in the whole system with any personality. Without that bishop, what's left is a correct, grey position.
  5. Be5 The bishop steps aside to the square it has left rather than allow the trade. Careful, because from e5 it really is in the way and you need to know how to kick it.
  6. f6 You kick it with the pawn. Yes, that's moving a pawn in front of your own king, and here it's fine: my king is still in the centre and will castle short later without trouble, and the bishop is left without a decent square on the whole diagonal. The general rules about not moving the pawns in front of your king apply while there's a castled king to protect.
  7. dxc5 White resolves the tension before it piles up on him.
  8. Qxc5 Recapturing with the queen, which also steps out of the file where his rook could bother her. Balance: an equal position, both my targets dealt with, and a White who has been answering my ideas since move 5. You don't look for a refutation against the London — you look for its two usual squares.

Example 2 · Without ...d5: the other road

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5, hitting the centre before committing the d-pawn. White closes with d5 and the game changes shape.

  1. d5 White closes the centre instead of capturing. It changes the type of game completely: there's no tension any more, there's structure, and the game will be decided by pawn plans rather than blows.
  2. d6 A Benoni-type structure. My c5 pawn and his d5 pawn fix the centre, and from here I know exactly where I play: on the queenside, which is where my pawn majority points.
  3. Nc3 White develops.
  4. a6 Preparing ...b5, the natural break in this structure. In closed positions the game goes to whoever breaks first on his own side, and mine is this one.
  5. a4 White stops my advance with a pawn, which is the correct way — the same idea you saw in the Catalan, now aimed at me.
  6. e5 So I gain space in the centre instead and take squares away from his bishop. When a plan gets stopped, you change plan: a structure has more than one door.
  7. Bg5 The bishop looks for activity on the other side before it runs out of squares.
  8. Be7 Development, and I offer the trade. A level position and a perfectly playable game, with the difference that I haven't had to know a single variation: I looked at where my pawns point and played there.

Practice

Your queen on b6 has already forced him to cover b2 with the queen. Now go after his other important piece — and when it steps aside, kick it.

  1. Normal development and pressure on d4. No odd moves needed here. Bring the b8 knight to its natural square, pressing his centre.
  2. To the rim, with a destination: you're going to trade off the f4 bishop, the only piece in the whole system with any personality. Go after the f4 bishop with your f6 knight, even if it ends up on the edge.
  3. Well kicked. Moving that pawn is allowed right here: your king is still in the centre and will castle afterwards without trouble. The bishop has taken shelter on e5. Kick it with a pawn.
  4. Complete equality, both his soft spots dealt with, and him answering since move 5. That's all it takes against the London. Take the c5 pawn back with the piece that was already looking at it.

Don't look for a refutation against the London, because there isn't one: it's a correct system. Look for its two usual squares — b2, left without a defender the moment the bishop goes to f4, and the bishop itself, which you trade with ...Nh5 — and you'll have a comfortable game without having studied a single line. And keep the general principle, which works against any system that always plays the same way: what repeats can be prepared for.