Understanding Le Système de Londres avec 2.Ff4

by Davide Nastasio
5/27/2019 – Chess players in the past spoke many languages to be able to travel to different countries, and to read chess literature, which in that time was scarce. Today, while some still do, with the advent of computers and a globalized age we've witnessed an expansion of English as a lingua franca, much like Latin in its day. However, ChessBase's production of DVDs in different languages (German, Spanish and now French) continues apace, so we can stir our curiosity for foreign languages, and eventually be able to follow a GM teaching a fashionable opening in his own mother tongue. Italian-expat in America DAVIDE NASTASIO tried just that with GM Christian Bauer's London System.

The Torre Attack The Torre Attack

The Torre Attack is an extremely effective way of taking your opponent into an uncomfortable situation right from move one.

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A review

I didn't study French when I was little. In my brother's time French was even more important than it remains today, as essentially an empire (that tells a lot about how old my brother is!), with countries like Indochina (Vietnam) and of course control over many African countries. The dialect spoken in my native city is a mix of many languages, because Milan has been conquered over and over by different empires: Spain, France, Germany, Austria etc. Many words and verbs are still identical to the languages of those conquerors. One of the things I loved about chess is to have so many nationalities coming together, many different languages, many chess books are printed in different languages. In fact Bobby Fischer, to better learn chess in a period in which he didn't have access to computers, databases etc, taught himself Russian!

However, language comprehension sufficient for chess it is not like learning to speak or write a foreign language — quite a bit harder. The language of chess is limited in numbers, letters, name of the pieces, and evaluations. Hence it is not difficult to pickup the explanations given by the author of a foreign language video series. In the beginning Christian Bauer uses words like "le premiere clip" (often the French are speaking using English words, they love putting the accent on the end of the word. If one remembers this, then it becomes like listening someone speaking English with a different accent!) which probably can be translated as "the first video..."

Previously I watched a DVD authored by Bauer for ChessBase on the Scandinavian (in English). Now I wanted to know how he neutralized few lines played by Black against the London. Perhaps my general familiarity with the London System made it easy for me to understand what he said, but this DVD could also be used to learn more French for those who would love to go on a trip to France, or to connect with French chess players.

I really felt grateful to ChessBase for this DVD, because Bauer began the video showing a line I myself had problems against! (sometimes I really feel someone is spying my games!) 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5

 
Black attacking the center right away!

This line is quite active for Black, and poses White many questions immediately.

Will White lose the central pawn for a flank pawn? How should White deal with the weak pawn on b2, a weakness made evident by the opening of the d8-a5 diagonal?
Should White support the d4-pawn with c2-c3 or advance the pawn to d5? If like me, you have been plagued by such questions during tournament games, then obviously you should also want to listen to Bauer!

The French grandmaster is quite pragmatic and easy to follow, because he shows the possible answers by Black, and then gives the plans for both sides, so one already has an idea of what to expect, such as after the moves: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.dxc5 a5 4.d2 xc5 5.c3 g6

 
How to continue from here?

If I understood correctly, the plans are for White to push the e2 pawn to open the lines for the light-squared bishop on f1, gaining some space in the center and developing with castling on the queenside. For Black, the plan is to fianchetto the bishop on g7, castle kingside, and eventually play d7-d6.

Once I have this blueprint in mind, the next step is playing some games with this line against a friend, or the engine, both as White and Black to immediately grasp the problems for both sides (I must admit this particular bit of advice actually came from Judit Polgar).

Going back one step Bauer considers more active for Black the move 3...a6 after: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.dxc5

 
A more active alternative for Black.

And here he begins to show, in true GM-style, how White must fight against such move, which can threaten White's development.

Bauer also shows some improvements, compared to what has been played previously in rapid games, like after the moves: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.dxc5 a6 4.d4 a5 5.c3 xc5 6.e3 e6 7.d2 b6, and here, instead of the move ♘b3, Bauer proposes to continue with 8.c4! d5 9.e5 and the plan is to develop the ♘g1 on f3 having more centralized pieces and, consequently, a better central control.

 
Better central control for White...

I found it interesting Bauer gives also other ways to deal with 1.d4 f6 2.♗f4 c5 which may not be everyone's cup of tea. For example he shows a line where we can advance the pawn, similar to the Trompowsky: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.d5 b6 4.c3 xb2 5.d2 b6 6.e4 if one wants to know more about the Trompowsky, ChessBase as another DVD from 'Blindfold King' GM Timur Gareyev.)

 
Similar to the Trmpowsky...

Bauer gave us a main line to follow (3.dxc5), which is the one we should play and study, but he also offers this line to further our curiosity. I don't watch videos with the idea to memorize the moves given by the author, but rather grave going into unexplored territory using the 'map' given by a trusted source, and the see what happens. I can watch games played by other players, or actually play some myself to gain a feeling. This work, if done over and over with all the lines Bauer shows, will bring rewards in terms of chess understanding.

In the line just mentioned I was curious, because I didn't feel White had enough compensation for the pawn, so I began to examine some games to understand how White should react to such loss of material, and how to take advantage. In this case I found more than 500 games, and began to play through a few, quickly, to improve my understanding, and challenge my disbelief over a line I wouldn't like to play. I found these games played by Vaganian a top player in the end of the 70s, quite fun, for the way he smashed the opposition in Morphy's style. I annotated the first:

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Qb6 4.Nc3 Qxb2 5.Bd2 Qb6 6.e4 d6 7.f4 White immediately goes for the center, very aggressive style! g6 8.e5 Nfd7 9.Nf3 At this point White has developed 3 pieces, Black 2. But notice the difference in centralization. Bg7 10.Rb1 Removing the Rook from the diagonal controlled by the Bg7, while attacking. Qd8 We are at move 10, White has 4 pieces out, Black 2. Black wasted 3 tempi with the queen: Qb6-b2-b6-d8. I guess 3 tempi are worth 1 pawn, but how does White gain from these 3 tempi? 11.e6 fxe6 12.Ng5 Another pawn sacrificed! Nf8 13.Bb5+ Bd7 14.dxe6 This pawn is definitely a thorn deep in Black's territory! And it creates 2 outposts F7 and D7. Bxb5 15.Nxb5 Qc8 Black tries to remove the problem. But it's not so easy. 16.0-0 a6 Black begins with the removal of the knight which could give check on C7. 16...Nxe6?? 17.Nxe6 Qxe6 18.Nc7+ and White wins. 17.Bc3 Over and over we see this "pattern-move" in GM games. Not answering to a threat, the Nb5 attacked by the Pa6, with a retreat but with another attacking move. axb5 18.Bxg7 Rg8 19.Bxf8 Rxf8 20.Nxh7 Just 8 moves before White was down 2 pawns, now the material is equal. Black is attacking the Pa2, but is such pawn a problem for White? White definitely achieved the goal of keeping the enemy king in the center. Black's development on the queenside is definitely lacking. Now let's see how White is able to convert the positional advantage into a win. Rg8 21.f5 gxf5 22.Qh5+ Kd8 23.Qf7 Re8 24.Rxf5 Qc6 24...Nc6 If Black was careless, he would pay immediately! 25.Qxe8+ Kxe8 26.Rf8# 25.Re1 Rxa2 26.Nf6 Rxc2 27.Qxe8+ Qxe8 28.Nxe8 Kxe8 29.h4 Rc4 30.h5 Nc6 31.Ref1 Kd8 32.R5f4 Nd4 33.Kh2 Nxe6 34.Rxc4 bxc4 35.h6 Ng5 36.Kg3 b5 37.Kg4 c3 37...Nh7 38.Kh5 Nf6+ 39.Rxf6 White wins. exf6 40.Kg6 c3 41.h7 Kd7 42.h8Q c2 43.Qh3+ Kc6 44.Qc3+- 38.Kxg5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vaganian,R2540Jansa,V25351–01974A45Kragujevac11
Vaganian,R2540Kupreichik,V24601–01974A45URS-ch423
Vaganian,R2570Passerotti,P23801–01977A45Rome

Advancing the d4-pawn to d5 invites the Benko gambit: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.c4

 
Invitation to the Benko gambit.

For Bauer, this is favorable for White, but again I believe one must do some research or at least play some games.

Returning back to other options for White after the moves 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 instead of advancing or taking on c5, White can continue in a solid way with 3.e3. I believe this has been discussed also in the DVD made by GM Nigel Davies on the London, because to continue in this way could lead to a transposition into the Caro-Kann, in this case the line: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.e3 cxd4 4. exd4 d5:

 
Transpo into the Caro-Kann

The above position could arise from the moves: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c3c6 5.f4. If the opponent doesn't know how to play the exchange Caro-Kann, or doesn't have a clue about transpositions, this could be the advantage one needs to win the game. The point, as always, is to bring the opponent into familiar territory for us, and unfamiliar for him.

I like the way Bauer covered most lines, not too deeply, but including many possible alternatives from Black's side. He also shows some traps into which Black can fall! For example after the moves: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.e3 d5 4.g3 b6 5.b3 b4 — this last move by Black is not so good. White can continue with 6.c3!

Now how does White win after 6...xc3? Try to play against the engine or eventually pickup the DVD, and learn from Bauer!

 
How to continue as White? Try it against the engine!

The fact that Bauer spent time to show also some possible traps means he did the homework for me, and then of course it's up to me to practice and put the remaining 50% of the work in order to be successful in my tournament games.

Another video I found important to refresh my knowledge of the London, and update it with the latest theoretical trends is the one in which the ♗f4 bites granite quoting Nimzowitsch, which happens after the moves: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 d6 and now we continue with the move 3.c3

 
What to do against Pd7-d6?

Thanks to Bauer, I had the chance to correct some of my bad habits. I generally think only about developing forward, and bring new pieces out, but this behavior is not optimal all the time, in fact one line explained by Bauer 1.d4 f6 2.f4 d6 3.c3 c6 4.e4 a5

 
Correct way to handle Pd6 against the London

Here I was thinking the next move should be 5.d3 because I need to defend the e4-pawn which is attacked by the ♞f6, while the ♘c3 is pinned by the ♛a5. But Bauer explains 5.d2! is the correct move to play. One can actually play it against an engine in the diagram above.

During the many videos I've noticed Bauer quotes many of his own games, not only as White but also as Black. Often we forget of the power of having a role model. We don't need to use as role-model only world champions, we can effectively use great players like Bauer, to see their opening prep in action. Here a sample of Bauer's games as White:

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 e6 3.e3 b6 4.Nf3 Bb7 5.Nbd2 Be7 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 cxd4 8.cxd4 0-0 9.a3 d6 10.Qe2 a6 11.h3 b5 12.0-0 Nbd7 13.e4 Qb8 14.Rfd1 e5 15.Bh2 Re8 16.Rac1 Bf8 17.Bb1 Qa7 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.Ba2 h6 20.g4 Rad8 21.g5 hxg5 22.Nxg5 Re7 23.Ndf3 Rde8 24.Nxf7 Rxf7 25.Ng5 Ree7 26.Nxf7 Rxf7 27.Rxd7 Nxd7 28.Qf3 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bauer,C2645Kurmann,O24661–02011A47SUI-chT2.1
Bauer,C2651Arun Prasad,S25021–02015A45FRA-ch blitz 13th7
Bauer,C2630Berend,F23461–02017D00Maastricht Limburg op-A 11th2
Bauer,C2630Heimann,A25881–02017A45SUI-chT8.2
Bauer,C2625Maze,S26201–02018A45PRO League Stage3
Bauer,C2625Thorfinnsson,B24261–02018D00PRO League Stage8
Bauer,C2630Zujev,O23631–02018A45SUI-chT4.2
Bauer,C2629Nguyen,A24631–02018A48Olympiad-434.1

The DVD comes with a database of 250 games, many of the games are not annotated, and some are well annotated, like the following:

 
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This is one of the decisive games in the exciting round 3 of this star-studded event. 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.Bf4 The London System has become very popular even among top-level players lately especially this year. b6 The more popular line is 3...d5 4.e3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 6...Be7 4.e3 Bb7 5.Bd3 Be7 6.h3 0-0 7.Nbd2 c5 8.c3 cxd4 Taking now or later and placing the d-pawn on d6 characterises the Queen's Indian setup. 9.exd4 d6 10.0-0 Nbd7 11.Re1 Re8 12.Bh2 a6 13.a4 Nf8 All of the previous moves have been seen before and White now normally continues with 14.Nc4, but Anish has other plans... 14.Ng5!? With the idea to provoke a weakening on Black's kingside and place a knight on e4. Qd7 Technically this is the novelty of the game. Tomashevsky may not have been familiar with the Ng5 idea. Previously. what was played was 14...Ng6 15.Nde4 15.Nge4?! Nd5 16.Nf3 0-1 (39) Stevanovic,V (2287)-Mladenovic,S (2124) Valjevo 2011, and here Black could've played the natural Ndf4 17.Bf1 Bc6 18.g3?! Nd5 and b6-b5 minority attack will be next. 15...Nxe4 16.Nxe4 f5?! this is exactly what White wants 16...Nh4! 17.f3 Bc6 with a long positional struggle ahead, where both sides can fight for an edge. 16...Bf8 17.Qh5 or 16...Bc6 17.Qh5 is easier to play for White. 17.Nd2 Bf8 18.Bc4 Qf6 19.Bf1! 19.Nf3 Kh8 20.Qe2 f4! Black is fine and even won later: 0-1 (38) Olejarczyk,B (2178)-Przybylski,W (2326) Warsaw 2010 19...Rab8 19...Bd5 20.Nc4 Qd8 21.a5 20.Nc4 Qd8 21.a5 b5 22.Nb6 15.Qe2! Not allowing Black to realise his plan on the queenside. Bc6 16.Bxa6 Bxa4 17.Bd3 Bc6 18.Nc4 Qc7 19.Na3 Qb7 20.Nb5 Qd7 21.Nf3 Rxa1 22.Rxa1 Ra8 23.Rxa8 Bxa8 24.Na3 Bc6 25.Bb5 Ne8 26.Bxc6 Qxc6 27.Qb5 Qxb5 28.Nxb5 Nd7 29.Kf1 f6 30.Ke2 Kf7 31.Ne1 Nb8 32.Na7! Restricting the b8-knight. Another good idea is 32.Nc2 Nc6 33.d5! exd5 34.Bf4 Ke6 35.Be3 Bd8 36.Ncd4+ Nxd4+ 37.Nxd4+ Kd7 38.f4± with a nice bind. 32...Bd8 33.Nc2 Ke7 34.Nb4 Kd7 35.d5! Black couldn't do anything to stop this thrust. exd5 35...e5? only gives White an outpost on c6 and less space for Black's pieces. 36.f4! 36.f3 f5 37.Bg1 Kc7 38.Kd3 Kb7 39.Nac6 Bc7 36...Kc7 37.Kd3 Kb7 38.Nac6 Bc7 39.Nxb8! otherwise he'll go Nd7-c5 Bxb8 40.Nc6 Bc7 41.Ke4 g6 41...b5 42.Kf5 42.f5! Ng7 43.Ne7 g5 44.Bg1 with the idea of creating another weakness on the kingside with h3-h4, and later followed by creating a passed pawn on the queenside. 36.Nxd5 White now has a long-term advantage and we see him putting pressure on Black for the rest of the game. Nc6 37.Nb5! Avoiding trades is favorable for the side with more space and vice versa! In addition to this, White needs his knight to attack weaknesses on d6 & b6. Ne7 38.Ne3 38.Nb4 d5 38...Nc6 39.Nxc6 Kxc6 40.Nd4+ Kd7 41.f4 d5 42.f5 Bc7 43.Bg1 39.Bf4 39.Kd3 Nc7 40.Nd4 Ne6 41.f3 Nc5+ 39...Nc7 40.Na3 Ne6 41.Be3 Bc7 and it looks like it's Black who improved his position more. 38...d5 39.Kd3 Nc7 40.Nd4 g6 40...Ne6 is a better defence: 41.b4 41.Nxe6 Kxe6 42.Kd4 42.f4 Bc7 42...Nc6+ 41.c4 Nxd4 42.Kxd4 dxc4 43.Kxc4 Kc6 41...Nxd4 42.Kxd4 Kc6 with good chances to hold 43.c4 dxc4 44.Nxc4 Nf5+= 41.c4!? A good practical decision, White allows Black to rid himself of his IQP to activate his king and exert pressure on the b-pawn. Changing the structure of the game can also be unpleasant for the defender especially when he doesn't expect it! 41.b4 Ne6 41...dxc4+ 42.Kxc4 Nc6 43.Bxc7 Bxc7 44.Nf3! White wants to place his king on b5 or a6. The best analyst in the world (Komodo 10), assesses this as equal but this is deceiving because it doesn't take into account 2 things: 1) The engine is the most resourceful defender 2) a human will feel pressure and see "ghosts" in such positions. Bd8 44...Na7 is also possible but the knight here is misplaced. Therefore a logical way to continue is to create play on the other side of the board! 45.g4! Bd8 46.Nd5 with Nd4, f4-f5 next. 44...Ne5+ 45.Nxe5+ Bxe5 46.b4 Kc6 47.b5+ Kd6 47...Kc7 48.Nd5+ Kb7 49.g4 Bb2 50.Ne3 Kc7 51.Kd5 Kd7 52.Nc4+- 48.Nd5± 45.Kb5 Mission accomplished. Now, Black has to be very accurate. Kc7 The best analyst recommends that the best defence is to invite the king to a6 and give up the b-pawn, which is very counter-intuitive. 45...Na7+ 46.Ka6 Nc6 47.Nd5 f5 48.Nxb6+ Kd6 and I doubt any human would be willing to go for this. 46.Nd5+ Kb7 White has gained good ground for his pieces, and will proceed to fix the weak b6 and create threats with his steeds. 47.b4 f5 48.Kc4 Kc8 49.Nf4 Bc7 50.Ne6 Bd6 51.b5 Ne7 52.Nfg5 h5 53.Nf7 Bh2 54.Nf8 Bg1 55.f4 Be3 56.Ne5 g5 57.fxg5 Bxg5 58.Nfg6 Nxg6 59.Nxg6 White has successfully executed another transformation, this time to a very favourable minor piece ending! Kd7 60.Kd5 With a much more active king and weak enemy pawns on both sides, the rest is "a matter of technique" for a top player like Giri. Be3 61.Nh4 f4 62.Ng6 Bc1 63.Ne5+ Ke7 64.Nc4 Be3 65.g3! Giri skillfully uses all of his resources here, a small pice of tactics! Bc1 . 66.gxf4 Bxf4 67.Nxb6 Bg3 68.Nc4 Kd7 69.b6 h4 70.Kc5 Kc8 71.Kc6 At this moment, both players are playing with more or less a minute left on their clock. While this should be winning for White he still has some work to do. Kb8 72.Kb5 Kc8 73.Kc6! White decides to move his king back to improve his knight first while also gaining time on the clock! Great practical technique by Anish. With little time left on the clock, Anish wasn't sure yet if things were going to work if he went to a6 and carefully, patiently makes the necessary preparation. Let's check: 73.Ka6 Kd7 74.b7 Ke6 75.Ne3 75.Ka7 Kf5 76.Ne3+ Ke4 77.Ng2 Kf3 78.Nxh4++- 75...Kf6 76.Ka7 Kg5 77.Ng2+- But of course it's easy to determine this when one is only watching and without being under time pressure! 73...Kb8 74.Nd2 Bf4 75.Ne4 Bg3 76.Nc5 Bh2 77.Kb5 Bg1 78.Nb3 Bh2 79.Ka6 Now White decides to execute what is probably the only winning plan. Bg3 80.Nd4 Kc8 81.b7+ Kd7 82.Ka7 Seeing that his king cannot even make any headway towards White's kingside, Black resigned. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Giri,A2755Tomashevsky,E27311–02016A47Moscow Tal Memorial 10th3

One can definitely improve thanks to watching, and studying, many games by top players, like the one selected in the above database, because not all of them are won for White. Some are instructive, because they show us how to react to a strange move by Black, and some are instructive because we need to discover why White lost and how to prevent that from happening to us.

 
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1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Bg4 3.f3 Bh5 4.e3 e6 5.c4 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 Ne7 7.Rc1 c5 8.dxc5 0-0 9.Nge2 Nd7 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Kf2 Nxc3 12.Nxc3 Bxc5 13.Ne4 Bb6 14.Bc4 h6 15.Qd6 e5 16.Bxe5 Rc8 17.Bd4 Rc6 18.Bxb6 Rxb6 19.Qd4 Qh4+ 20.g3 Qe7 21.Be2 Ne5 22.Rc5 Re6 23.Rd1 Nxf3 24.Bxf3 Bxf3 25.Kxf3 Rxe4 26.Qxe4 Qxc5 27.Kg2 Qb5 28.Rd2 Re8 29.Qf3 b6 30.b3 Re7 31.Rd8+ Kh7 32.e4 Qc6 33.Qf5+ g6 34.Qd5 Qc2+ 35.Kh3 Qf2 36.Qd4 Qf1+ 37.Kh4 g5+ 38.Kg4 f5+ 39.exf5 Qe2+ 40.Kh3 Qh5+ 41.Kg2 Re2+ 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bauer,C2585Morozevich,A27470–12006D00Pamplona-A 16th4

As the reader has surely noticed by now, I've treated mainly opening lines where Black answered 1...f6 against 1.d4. Those were covered in the first part of the theoretical videos, and Bauer covered many more lines than the one I can put here. Bauer also covered quite well the theoretical part after 1.d4 d5 2.♗f4:

 
Theoretical part after 1.d4 d5

Here there can be some transpositions into the lines beginning with 1.d4 f6, treated by Bauer, but mainly Bauer begins to show lines after 1.d4 d5 2.f4 f5 this answer by Black can be quite common.  We live in a very rich chess age, because I can watch games on this line included in the database which comes with the DVD, or check the latest games played online thanks to my ChessBase Online account via the live database!

One can learn how to query the database, and discover if there are some latest games with the moves of the opening.

Here a sample of the latest games found:

 
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1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Bf5 3.e3 e6 4.c4 c6 5.Qb3 Qd7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.Nf3 Nh5 8.Bxb8 Rxb8 9.g4 Bxg4 10.Ne5 Qd8 11.Nxg4 Qh4 12.Ne5 Bd6 13.Nf3 Qf6 14.Be2 g6 15.cxd5 exd5 16.Qc2 0-0 17.a3 b5 18.Na2 Rfc8 19.Nb4 a5 20.Nd3 b4 21.Nfe5 Ng7 22.Nd7 Qe7 23.Nxb8 Bxb8 24.axb4 axb4 25.Nc5 Bd6 26.Ra4 Nf5 27.Rxb4 Nh4 28.Kd1 Qf6 29.Rf1 Nf5 30.Kc1 Bxh2 31.Qd3 Bd6 32.Bg4 Ra8 33.Bxf5 gxf5 34.Rg1+ Kh8 35.Kb1 h6 36.Rb7 Re8 37.Nd7 Qe6 38.Ne5 Bxe5 39.dxe5 Ra8 40.Qb3 Kh7 41.Rb8 Ra7 42.Qb6 Rd7 43.Rbg8 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mendez Ramirez,V1964Rodriguez Ramirez,W17941–02019Santo Domingo Independencia op 8th5
Hadzi Manev,L2030Taleski,V16771–02019EU-ch 20th7
Moskalenko,V2504Ashraf,A19541–02018Sharjah blitz op6

The DVD ends with a series of video tests — a total of 13. Bauer presents some positions he explained previously, and asks the reader to find the correct continuation, giving feedback, and explaining when one goes wrong.

Pros and Cons

I don't believe everyone can play any opening they want. There are definitely some taboos in our chess minds, lines we don't want to try or play, because the material disadvantage could be too high for us.

For example this line given by Bauer ends with White being 2 pawns down: 1.d4 f6 2.f4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.c3 b6 5.e4 xe4 6.xe4 b4 7.d2 xe4 8.e2 and here Bauer already says White has enough compensation and shows a possible continuation: 8...xd5 9.xd5 exd5.

You can play it against the engine from the diagram, the next move given by Bauer is 10.c3.

 
Try it against the engine.

As I mentioned, Bauer says White has enough compensation, but is this compensation for everyone? Clearly this is a line one must practice before a tournament or other serious use of the opening.   

And of course there is also another side of the coin. I'm sorry to be pedantic, but there are other lines, which independently from the "language barrier" one must know how to convert for a win. For example after: 1.d4 d5 2.f4 f5 3.c4 (here the idea is to open the diagonal for the queen to take advantage of the weak b7-pawn) 3...xb1 — this is considered dubious by Bauer, and he gives the following refutation: 4.xb1 e5 5.dxe5 b4 6.d2 xd2 7.xd2 the evaluation by Bauer is the following: "et les Blancs ont un avantage clair" (White's advantage is clear).

 
Is White's advantage clear?

White's material advantage is clear, and I'm sure titled players, like Bauer, know how to bring this position into a won game. But at the same time, we don't know the technical skill level of the public watching this good DVD. Hence some caution is always required, and the prospective tournament player should play lines like this one against an engine or sparring partner to see if he is able to convert White's advantage into a win.  

An error found in the database of 250 games included with the DVD is the following: Game 144 and 145 are identical. Aronian vs Giri, maybe Bauer thought it was a good idea to watch it twice! :-)

Final thoughts

The language barrier, which I thought in the beginning could be insurmountable, in the end wasn't really an important factor, because thanks to colored arrows, highlighted squares, diagrams at critical moments, I was just witnessing the same explanations I would have received if Bauer would have spoken in English or Italian. I was intrigued by the fact Bauer began to explain the lines I had most problems with. I've watched other DVDs on the London, but I couldn't remember how they dealt with those lines. Bauer has done a good job, and that for me was quite important, because the day after watching the DVD I had a tournament, and some players played into those lines Bauer treated. For once I felt prepared at the chess board. It was quite a surreal experience, I was well prepared thanks to a DVD in a language I'm not proficient at all.

Watching the DVD helped me to improve my knowledge of the London system, refresh it for lines I studied but didn't meet in practice, and update my knowledge of the main lines.

I feel chess is great because can connect people from different cultural background, different nationalities, and like in this case with different languages. I wish I could learn German as well, because I've seen ChessBase has also a great production of German titles. Let close the review always reminding ourselves of the great (Latin) motto chosen by FIDE: "Gens Una Sumus".

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Davide is a chess aficionado who regularly reviews books and DVDs.

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