London System: one of the main lines

Exploring the London System.

This time lets see one of the main lines, and the following tabiya :

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 d5 4. e3 Bd6 5.Nbd2 O-O 6. c3 c5 7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Bg3 b6

White has done the classic set-up with Bf4,Bd3,Nbd2,Nf3,e3,c3.

Black has responded in a classic manner and principled fashion, occupying the center with d5 and c5, and the bishops are going to d6 and b7 respectively.

Now White has many possibilities in the position above. Using the Explorer function, here's the breakdown

So this is how to prepare openings in my mind. if you play this with Black, you should look at 4 possible moves: Ne5, 0-0, Qe2 and e4.

So since we're talking London, here's the analogy !!

So let's start the underground exploration.

What would be a good way to face Ne5 ? You want to re-rout your knight from c6 to e7, as Nf5 or Ng6 is next, while controlling e4 with your bishop on b7.

What about White simply castling 9.0-0 ?

I like the way the World Chess Challenger Nepomniachtchi did against Le Minh Vietnamese IM and one of the best bullet/blitz players on chess.com 

Nepo on the right here :

We are not done yet.

What if White tries e3-e4 ? The best move is to retreat 9..Be7!

Here's an example

And how our last game to be aware of is againt Qe2. Note that the London system is very flexible so you could face let's say Qe2 and 0-0 or 0-0 and Qe2.