The London Sucks

Yes. I had to make a blog over this. There was no other option. My other blogs suck, so I at least need to put a post with some effort. I'm gonna start first with a vent about the London and just about how bad it is, and then show some games and positions where the London bridge falls very miserably. The image below also shows who is interested in learning why the London is great

The Vent

First and foremost, I'm going to confess that I did play the London system when I was 1200. But those days were over a year ago, and I have switched to a more delightful opening, rather than playing the dreaded London system.  Anyways, we're talking about the opening in general, not just one poor soul who had to go through the misery of playing such a boring opening.

And notice how I said playing instead of learning because the London is literally just one setup that you can use against anything, it doesn't matter what opening you're up against. It can be d5, Nf6, d6, e6, b6, just about anything. And it'll still work. All you have to do is make some cute little setup and put your knight on the center of the board and you're fine for the middlegame. The best 'alternative' you can have in the London is where you queenside castle and make the game just a tad bit more eventful. Or, you could castle kingside and assure to you and you opponent that it's gonna be a boring game. I mean, you probably trade off most of your pieces by move twenty, and after that, it's just fighting for a draw. What a way to kill some time am I right?

Tbh that really just is the London in a nutshell. The only thing you need to play the London is memorize some moves and have a brain. As long as either you or your opponent don't mindlessly blunder in the opening, you'll just go through a boring game. 

I will admit though, that you may be able to get some eventful games with the London. I'm just here to say that 95% of the London games that I've played are just boring maneuvers in the opening. Whatever happens after the opening can vary. One could just blunder their queen after playing an average London setup, or they could just trade off everything and make the game boring, or one could start an immortal attack. But the opening itself, is what I'm here to complain about. It's too basic, and it's just boring to play. Now I'm gonna show some diagrams over the London and some games I've played.

Diagrams

First, we have the basic London, the boring one where black just copies white and trades mostly everything:

Or the one where black tries to counter white, but just ends up trading:

Now if I'm being honest. this is one of the few lines where both sides have to be kinda cautious because of traps and whatnot:

I'm not gonna go bore you to death with more London lines, you can do that to yourself by looking at the Opening Explorer. While we're talking about that, I was able to find some games that I played against the London system, where I punished their mistakes in the opening (Saying this, I'm pretty sure this is just gonna turn into a blog where I shame people for not knowing how to play the London, and honestly, it's their fault. As I mentioned above, it's just a stupid little system which doesn't require much brain power to play). We'll take a look at them now.

The Games

Game 1

In this game, the Game Review said, "You took advantage of what your opponent gave you in the opening." That just shows that my opponent did not know how to play the London system. Which is kinda sad if you ask me, but that's besides the point (You could also say that it's sad on my end that I didn't punish what they gave me, but oh well). I made a really goofy mistake that I hung for a couple moves, and my opponent still didn't see it. Oh well, I'm pretty sure that's what the London does to your brain. It makes you miss saving moves.

As I mentioned above, my opponent played a super poor opening, like really really bad. I dunno, I’ve see worse, but if you’re playing the London at least get the moves right

Game 2

I’m actually pretty impressed by my performance in this game, and the engine liked it too. White did play a solid opening, but I still did better . My opponent did something a little different in response to 4.. Qb6, and you’ll see it in the game. Because of this strange move, I was able to have a slight advantage coming out of the opening, and the middlegame went all my way.

All in all, it was a pretty clean game. I may have gone for a bit too much in the opening, but it worked out. The middlegame went my way, they blundered and it was calm afterwards. Yeah, onto game 3.

Game 3

I think this is good example where I try to go for too much over an advantage I got from the opening. I had better development, but I traded pieces thinking that it'd win me material... when it's just the opening. I have no other pieces out but my queen, knight, and bishop. My king isn't castled. Yet I still think I can go for some wild attack. Anyways, we're here talking about how bad my opponent did in the opening. I mean, the opening wasn't horrible, but the opening led to a worse position as the middlegame played out. I'll show you.

Again, not the most eventful game. But then again, that's what you're getting yourself into when you play boring openings like these at this level. The game is just a snoozefest. The only fun part about playing these games is when they blunder and give you their rating for free. I mean, that's about as eventful it gets with these games.

Now, the last game is a bit different. I played it in 2021, when I was a 1000, and it might have been my very first brilliant move...

Final Game

As I was looking through the database and finding games to put here, I stumbled upon this intriguing game played on May 17th, 2021 (a day after my birthday woohoo). Long story short, I was at a loss of words. I didn't even punish my opponent in the opening. Heck, I didn't even play Qb6. I just played a bland 1000 style opening. I know this isn't really me punishing my opponent's mistake in the opening, but I just thought it'd be fun to share this game. Trust me, it'll be worth it (I hope).

Don't ask me how I knew the idea behind this move, okay? I was a 1015, with a minute and thirteen on the clock. At first glance, I didn't even know what this does, I actually thought it blundered a knight. I had to look at the line to see what the follow up was. *sigh* this must be proof that I still haven't learned anything throughout my chess journey. That was a chaotic game though, right? At least now I won't give up all my pieces under time pressure.

Conclusion

That was a fun blog to write, I felt it was kinda short though

I want this to pass 1k views

Give me more controversial blog topics 

the london system sucks

Yeah I know the thumbnail has nothing to do with the blog itself, I just thought it was a cool template, and it's 11:00 pm and I wanted this blog to get done today lol.

bye