Let's play the London!
Let's learn the London system! Before we get started, I have to warn you: this opening is basically the same 5 boring moves over and over and nobody will be your friend. If you're ok with that, then let's get started with pawn to d4.
Let's continue with the London!
By the way - it's not too late to turn back! You can return to the home page and learn literally any other opening!! Still here? OK... second move of the london is bishop to f4.
We'll continue with our regular london system: pawn to e3.
Black has abandoned the guard of the g7 pawn - let's play queen to g4 to attack it.
Black has BLUNDERED! And this was their most common move too!! Before we recapture the bishop, we can takes a free pawn with queen to g7
Before we take back the bishop, let's trade queens. Queen takes queen on f6.
NOW we can finally take back the bishop - pawn to f4.
A free pawn is a free pawn!
Regular london stuff: pawn to e3.
Black just... gave us a free pawn? It looks weird but this has happened in over a million games. Pawn takes pawn on e5.
Instead of bishop taking back - we have an even better move! Queen to h5 check
now QUEEN takes pawn on e5.
Black just lost the game in like 5 moves hahaha
When black breaks out the symmetrical bishop variation, I recommend breaking OUT of the traditional london setup and instead going for something they probably haven't seen before: pawn to c4.
It looks like we just gave black a free pawn - but they're going to have a hard time holding onto it. Pawn to e3 opens up our light-squared bishop to attack their c4 pawn.
Black tried to hold onto their pawn but it's actually a huge BLUNDER. We have the very-cool queen to f3 here, hitting black's rook.
Black blocked our attack on their rook but now we have an even BETTER idea: bishop takes knight on b8, discovering an attack on the undefended f5 bishop.
Free bishop? Free bishop! Queen takes bishop on f5.
A pawn for a bishop - that's a good trade
The next normal london move is pawn to e3
When black goes for the c5 pawn-break here, I actually like breaking AWAY from our normal london setup and instead playing knight to c3. This is setting up a deadly trap that most of our opponents will fall for...
Black's most common move here is actually a BLUNDER. Now we can hop our knight into b5 and set up a knight fork on c7.
Taking with the bishop or the pawn are both great options. In this course, let's take with the bishop :) Bishop takes on e5.
Pawn takes knight on e5, of course.
Now we have an incredible sequence that will win us another pawn and a crushing position. First step: queen SACRIFICE on d5.
Do you see how we can win our queen back? Hint: Knight to c7 forking the king and queen.
We need to win our queen back, so knight takes queen on d5 of course.
There's a few different ways we can protect/save our knight here. I recommend the simple pawn to c4 to lock in black's position.
Well done! We are +4 on the eval-bar and the only thing to keep in mind is to NOT castle queenside because black's knight is eyeing our f2 pawn.
Black is offering us a free pawn - but we shouldn't actually take it. If we do, we'll lose the center and black will pretty easily regain the pawn again. Instead, let's continue with our normal london setup: pawn to e3.
Normally we play pawn to c3 here (and that’s perfectly fine), but there’s another option — a trap that HALF your opponents will fall for: knight to c3. Our goal is to get our knight onto c7 and fork black.
OUR OPPONENT FELL FOR OUR TRAP!! Knight to b5 immediately, threatening knight fork to c7. Black is going to lose material here. By the way, this position actually transposes into a line from the Jobava London course — one of my personal favorites on the site. If you’re enjoying this position, you’ll definitely love the Jobava London course.
Pawn to c3, blocking the check. Our threat on c7 remains.
We can win a pawn (and a good position) by playing bishop takes pawn on e5.
Pawn takes knight on e5, of course.
Our e5 pawn is under attack! We can defend it AND win a pawn of our own with queen to d5.
We have the center. We have more development. We have a safer king. We have 2 of our opponent's pawns. We have a 3 point eval advantage.