06 Dec 09
Originally posted by vipiummm, its quite interesting, any system i think that fianchettoes the kings bishop aiming at e5, playing d6 to prevent any operations from e5 should be sound. London is quite flexible, for white keeps the option of playing many systems. Normally the London player likes these slow manoeuvring games, to keep the centre closed and to continue operations on the wings, pawns storms against the king or minority attacks on the opposite wing. it may also be a good strategy to try to open the game as quickly as is feasible, i dunno, there are no easy answers to these things, chess is chess and London players are London players! ask greenpawn hes been a London player for years!
maybe the reason I was losing was that I was trying mainly c6 and to push e5, which was a bit slower than his minority attacks later on...
06 Dec 09
In my earlier Chess days I used to constantly play the London System (after which I moved onto the Queen’s Gambit, and later abandoned 1.d4 all together). I had IM Andrew Martin’s DVD on it which was my bible - I’ve recently watched it back and found out he completely skirted around the issue of Black playing an early c5 - instantly wrecking the famous ‘London’ pawn triangle.
It’s a very passive opening - if White plays it Black should easily get at least a draw.
06 Dec 09
Originally posted by BorgovHow can you say that when there's still a game of chess to be played out? White hasn't done anything disastrous and a good player on the White side will have plenty of opportunities to prove their chess ability.
if White plays it Black should easily get at least a draw.
07 Dec 09
Originally posted by Varenkahe means that at a high level white hasnt properly used his advantage of moving first, thus black can counter and equalize... white never "tests" black.
How can you say that when there's still a game of chess to be played out? White hasn't done anything disastrous and a good player on the White side will have plenty of opportunities to prove their chess ability.
07 Dec 09
Originally posted by VarenkaYeah as irontigran says, I don’t believe White properly capitalises on the advantage of the first move - the London System is certainly a waste of 1.d4 d5 - why play that when you can have a nice Queen’s gambit. It is an option against 1...Nf6 but I still don’t think its White’s best - there’s too much counter play to be had for Black.
At our level, that's all very theoretical and of little practical value.
Another pain in the arse is if Black plays an early Bf5, stopping the decent development of White’s good Bishop.
The reason I called it drawish is because I used to get draws nearly every time I played it - maybe other’s like yourself have had different results - as you say it’s only the first couple of moves, there is still a game of Chess to play through.