The London System – an opening for you?

London System Overview CB

By Zhigen Lin

In my opinion, there’s one opening that shines above all others when comparing reward payout to the input effort. This opening is relatively quick to learn and obscure enough that even titled opponents may not have a proper antidote lined up. I am talking about the London System, an opening popularised by the London BCF Congress Tournament of 1922.

One of the greatest benefits when playing this opening is that it actually carries theoretical bite in many lines. It is surprisingly common to see games where strong players try to develop naturally against the system and end up falling victim to a crushing attack or simply find themselves in a strategically lost position. The latter case exemplifies another of the best qualities of the London – it is excellent at restricting enemy counterplay.

Brief History

The first ever game recorded in a London ECO code (A46, A48 or D02) is Mason-Blackburne in London, 1883, roughly two players of grandmaster strength. Blackburne must have thought that the opening carried merit and became a major exponent over the next few years.

The tournament that was thought to have put the London System in the public eye was the 1922 London BCF Congress. This was an elite tournament won by reigning World Champion José Raúl Capablanca with an undefeated 13/15 (with four draws). In the game below, we will see a clash between two future world champions from the same tournament. (In fact, they were the next two world champions!)

The tournament also featured many other big names as evident in the crosstable:

What is the London?

The London involves the moves: d4, Nf3, Bf4 and e3. Unlike the Colle System, White develops his dark-squared bishop outside of the pawn chain. His next few moves will change depending on the set-up that Black chooses. In general, White has two approaches

• Black plays …c7-c5 and White responds c2-c3. White will later develop Nbd2;
• Black does not play …c7-c5 and White hits with c2-c4. White will generally later develop with Nc3.

In both cases, either before or after White moves his c-pawn, he will also develop his light-squared bishop to e2 or d3. Normally if Black may play…e7-e5 in the future, White will place his bishop on e2 in order to avoid a potential fork if Black plays …e5-e4.

Who is suited to the London?

I think it is important to first indicate that playing the London exclusively is likely to be detrimental to your chess in the long run. The chief reason is that the London pawn structures are achievable in almost every game, meaning that players will gain little experience in playing in other pawn structures.

The London is probably most suitable for a player who already has a white 1.d4 repertoire, preferably a mainstream repertoire that involves c2-c4 and Nf3. Your opponents will spend most of their time preparing for your theoretically-involved mainstream lines and will have less time to specifically prepare for your London.

The London is fundamentally sound and is not generally vulnerable to preparation. However, opponents may recognise if you play an inaccurate move-order to reach the London setup.

This opening may also be suitable as an initial ‘transition’ opening when a player starts playing 1.d4 for the first time. In his Build a 1.d4 Repertoire, English Grandmaster Nigel Davies (left) champions this approach as a way to transition into mainstream 1.d4 and 2.c4 lines. In fact Davies recommends the London above other systems like the Colle or Torre for this purpose. Incidentally, Davies has made DVDs on all three systems.

Personally, I think the idea of a ‘transition’ opening is not very important for players who can afford to spend a lot of time playing online (in addition to their over-the-board tournaments). They can lose as many “1.d4 2.c4” games online as they like until they become used to the typical plans.

In contrast, a player who plays exclusively over the board may not want to cope with the rating hit they will experience by playing 1.d4 2.c4 cold. (Although this hardly matters for beginners.) Nevertheless, DVDs have allowed us to learn new openings at an unprecedented pace. I quite enjoyed watching Lubomír Ftáčnik 1.d4 – a classical repertoire for White. It is one of the few 1.d4 repertoire DVDs available in recent years. Ftáčnik’s suggested repertoire is very solid, such as his 4. e3 Slow Slav against the Slav Defence, a line very popular at the top level. In fact, his plan suggested against the King’s Indian involving an early h2-h3 has become popular as of late.

How do you learn the London?

As with most ‘system-type’ openings, the London is very fast to learn. In preparing to play the London, a player should learn how to best develop against different black set-ups, such as the King’s Indian structure, a symmetric-style early …d5 and …Bf5, or approaches to trade off the ‘London bishop’ with an early …d5, …e6 and …Bd6.

The modern revival of the London as a theoretical weapon came in 2006 with Win with the London System by Sverre Johnsen and Vlatko Kovacevic. Kovacevic, a grandmaster who hails from Croatia and Yugoslavia, has played the London in a huge number of tournament games, making him one of the best authorities on the subject. This book was a turning point as it was one of the first books to recommend a refined move order with a delayed Nf3 (early Bf4). One of the major advantages of this move order is that White can move his c-pawn more quickly and hence meet …Qb6 lines with Qb3.

The recent consensus appears to be that 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 and 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 are the most accurate move orders to reach the London System. There have been other books published on the London since Win with the London System, which are certainly worth investigating.

One of the more recent products available is by Danish-born Icelandic Grandmaster Henrik Danielsen (right), whose treatment of 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 is part of ChessBase’s 60 Minutes series. There is also another DVD other than Davies’, which is the one by English International Master Andrew Martin. Martin is a prolific publisher, having made many DVDs with ChessBase. In this DVD he works with Foxy Openings. His approach is more focussed on modern developments and integrates the move orders championed by Johnsen and Kovacevic.

In recent practice, the highest-level regular exponents of the London are Gata Kamsky and Boris Grachev. Vassily Ivanchuk has also been known to play it on occasion. One way to get started is to look up games by these players under London System ECO codes: D02, A46 and A48.

Two sample games

Build a 1.d4 Repertoire by Nigel Davies – €27.50		The Colle System by Nigel Davies – €26.99
Pressing straight away - The London System 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 by Henrik Danielsen – €9.90		1.d4 - a classical repertoire for White by Lubomir Ftacnik – €27.90

About the author

Zhigen Lin is a former Australian Under 16 Champion. He has represented Australia in world youth tournaments in France, Turkey, Georgia and Singapore. He has just completed his double degree in Commerce and Science at Monash University, majoring in finance and applied mathematics. Next year, he will undertake an honours year in applied mathematics with a project in general relativity. His favourite area is ordinary differential equations. Zhigen’s website is called Chess Game Improvement and he also maintains a chess-focussed YouTube channel. Zhigen’s long-time coach and dear friend FM Geoffrey Saw is the coach referred to in the annotated games.