Hi. I'm playing the London System right now as White and I'm thinking of switching to 1 d4 and 2 c4. My rating is around 1850 USCF and it has stagnated for about 3 years now in the 1800-1900 area. I know playing 1 d4 and 2 c4 takes a lot of time to learn, and so I just wanted your opinion on whether switching from the London System to 1 d4 2 c4 is a good idea for an 1800 who wants to improve his chess. I kind of feel like the London System is too drawish and non-aggressive (although my ex-coach who was an FM told me that was my style - I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult :)).

Thank you!

the london took me where you are now but you have to play classical to get better.Its all about risk taking.

Play the Queen's Gambit or switch to an English.

Go for the upgrade to d4+c4. I'm sure the London System defenders will be all over this, but it really is a one-trick pony.   

If you are already 1800-1900 and want to get better, time to learn some more ambitious openings.

Is this even a serious question? Queen's gambit obviously. Any mainline opening will do much more for you than the London system.

Only through the classical openings and their offshoots can you learn all the key central pawn structures and the strategies associated with them, and that's how you play the opening and middlegame better.

The problem with all the "system" openings that try to play the same set-up, more or less, is that they pretend it is possible to do this and get a good game.  The truth is our game is so intricate and complex that every move on each side affects the balance in many ways, and players improve by understanding these changes at ever-deeper levels, not by trying to avoid thinking about them altogether.

While I agree with the general sentiments above, I'd say leave the opening and work on other parts of your game for now.

The deficiencies of the London system vis a vis the QG are a good reason why one gets stuck at 2200.  They are NOT the reason one gets stuck at 1800.

You are saying that you actually remember last week's threads ?

Another nod to that. The opening isn't what's stalling you. The London allows Black equality, but so what ... you win by playing better chess in the middle-game, and if anything that will have bigger long-term payoffs than betting everything on a single choice of opening and hoping you repeatedly meet opponents who don't know the lines.

It is true that for club players games are won in the middle and endgame, not the opening. Saying that, as chess players we should always seek to play the best move at every stage of the game. With the London system you are playing a sub-optimal set-up for the first 8 or 10 moves, giving black easy equality, and then expecting to win based on your middle game and/or endgame skills alone. Although you should probably focus on these areas the most at 1800 strength, winning a middle game is a lot easier if you can get something out of the opening, especially with white. White has a slight edge in most openings by birth right, why not make use of it? Why start playing the best moves only in the middle game when you can start playing the best moves right away (2.c4)? The evidence that the London is worse than 2.c4 is indisputable.

Also, as Fezzik pointed out, you will learn a lot more with mainline systems because they lead to many more types of positions. Diversity is key for growth in chess.

I agree -- I just don't want players persuaded that a change of opening will yank them out of the doldrums. I made advances after I began appreciating the unique qualities of one opening over another (eg. Scotch Game versus Scotch Gambit versus Goring Gambit), but I had a lot to learn (mostly about positional play) before I could.

It's not so much that the opening is a quick fix for stalled improvement, it's that the difference between playing important main line structures which help you learn the game and playing the same off-the-beaten-path system all the time is critical.

I'm no advocate of intense opening study until someone is at least 1700-1800 USCF, and even then just beginning gradually.  But playing the major openings (without intense study or memorization) and learning by practice helps you improve as a player.  The restrictions of a system tend to retard your growth.  You don't learn to ride a bike until you take off the training wheels and do it.