London System – Playing with the stronger pieces

7/6/2026 – In the London System, after 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3, Black has the choice between the main lines 4...c5 (the move most frequently played to date) and 4...Bd6 (the modern continuation). In his opening article for the new ChessBase Magazine #232, Christian Braun suggests the counter 5.Bd3!? against 4...Bd6. In his detailed analysis – the article includes, amongst other things, seven annotated model games – Braun highlights the advantages of this move. This opening offers a high degree of flexibility. And “very often, White gets the better development and simply has ‘the stronger pieces’.” Take a look at the free sample from CBM #232 – in the ChessBase Books format, you can view the full article with all the analyses directly in your web browser.