http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_System seems like a pretty good overview.
The London looks playable, but it does fly in the face of Emmanuel Lasker's "knights before bishops" advice.
Then again, it offers a little bit of shock value and sidesteps opening theory, and it's hard to find non-gambit, non-hypermodern openings which offer that.
The thing that strikes me as a Caro-Kann player, is that this opening offers a lot of the same pawn structures, which means that the London as White and 1 ...c6 against anything as Black could constitute a decent universal repertoire.
Here's Alexei Shirov winning as White with the London:
Originally posted by EinZweiDreiI hate the opening but that attack is brilliant!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_System seems like a pretty good overview.
The London looks playable, but it does fly in the face of Emmanuel Lasker's "knights before bishops" advice.
Then again, it offers a little bit of shock value and sidesteps opening theory, and it's hard to find non-gambit, non-hypermodern openings which offer that.
The ...[text shortened]... 31.Rxf3+ Nf4 32.Rxf4+ Ke6 33.Rf8 Ree7 34.Nxe7 Rxe7 35.Rd8 1-0[/pgn]
Originally posted by Porky1016Just about every reasonable opening has lines where it is very strong, and other lines where it is hard to avoid drawish-looking variations.
A fellow chess player asked me what I know about the London System. I know nothing about it. Both of us have heard it is good against all openings. Can someone enlighten me? What is it and is it any good? What is the history of it?
The trick is to play something you like and enjoy!
Originally posted by Porky1016It is the most drawish opening ever devised! You'll be hard to beat, but you'll struggle to win games. I played it for a while but it's like licking sandpaper, totally unsatisfying.
A fellow chess player asked me what I know about the London System. I know nothing about it. Both of us have heard it is good against all openings. Can someone enlighten me? What is it and is it any good? What is the history of it?
Some of the London statistics are kind of humorous though...
This line for example, has a 92% drawing rate:
That's an extreme case, and obviously some other lines are more lively... But it illustrates the total lack of pressure white applies in this opening. Black can just react symmetrically and get a good game. That's usually what I do in blitz. It irritates the opponent and usually he'll make a bad move to try and drum up play haha.
Originally posted by DivGradCurlI appreciate the drawing possibilities, but I don't consider the above statement to be very accurate.
Black can just react symmetrically and get a good game.
From what I've seen, that is a recipe for black to get caught out in an inferior QGD by transposition, and it tends to play into the hands of a London player. If white plays the first five moves very accurately, he can get an early jump on the other player, but if he just raps out moves like a formula, the advantage of the first move dissipates quickly.
I've played both sides, and (for me) the black fianchetto lines have been the easiest to play as black and the toughest to face as white.
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