The London System Opening

Soon I’ll start to look at my game with M.Harris (I played white) from the Nottingham Chess Congress of April 2008. In that game I played London System opening. I thought before I write about the game, as short preamble on this opening - and why I like to play it - would be of interest.

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.Bf4

Objectively at this point, instead of 3.Bf4, the best move is (probably) 3.d5. This however takes the game into the territory of the Benoni Defense. This would require me to know Benoni theory, the study of which is time consuming. Like many club players I am reluctant to play these main line openings without having paid some attention to the theory, and I don’t have the time. Therefore, I look to alternatives - for example the Torre Attack, and the London System (as played here).

3… e6 4.e3

The London System and the Torre Attack are generally thought not to give black as many problems as the main lines. That however, is all very well for strong players, but I seriously believe it doesn’t matter at my level. I think at my level it is far more important to play an opening that leads to middle game positions you feel comfortable playing, and that leads to middle game plans that are easy to understand. Also, openings such as the Torre are not entirely innocuous and contain more venom than they are typically credited with. This is because white’s whole opening is geared up to white bolstering the centre by putting pawns on c3 and e3, providing a strong platform from which to attack the black kingside castled position. Of course black is not compelled to castle kingside but, at the very least, putting a pawn in the centre and actively developing your pieces must leave you with a satisfactory position from which to start the middle game.