Answering the london system against Qb6 and follow uo Bf5

Sort:
Avatar of swarminglocusts

I purchased the London system opening from Simon Williams and am enjoying the attacking lines he has taught me. However, he did not cover lines such as the slav. I am having trouble with preparing a line with the moves 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c6 3..... Qb6. I know on move 3 I can play c3 Nc3 and I don't want to give up the white square diagional in the event of Bf5. One thing I have learned is playing f3 Nc3 Rb1 g4 and e3 building a base. I find that my king has no where to go, but that's the best I can find or just play c3 Qb3. Any thoughts?

Avatar of Preggo_Basashi

Qc1 with the idea of c4 later looks appealing.

 

 

Avatar of 1st_Degree

You can played a poison pawn variation against the London

Avatar of swarminglocusts
wiahwib wrote:
1st_Degree wrote:

You can played a poison pawn variation against the London

I have played many games over the years using a ...c6 and ...Qb6 line against the London. I had the most problems when White was daring enough to answer ...Qb6 with Nd2, playing it like a poisoned pawn. It's risky to capture on b2 but if you don't White simply accelerates development.

What is the continuation after Qxb2?

Avatar of Optimissed

I quite fancy 4. b3. I'd play 4. Nd2 in blitz but maybe not in a serious game. Why put myself under pressure of having to win from one or two pawns down? The conservative option is 4. Qc1 but 4. b3 followed by Nd2 with the intention of c4 and/or e4 seems interesting. Try to take advantage of black's lack of development by opening things up and getting pawns in the centre. I expect black's natural reply to b3 is 4. ...Bf5 5. Nd2 ...e6. After this, 6. c4 looks ok and if 6. ...dc then 7. e4 and I think white is better. Of course this was just off the top of my head looking at the diagram but I think I'd like to play it except I don't play the London as a rule. Maybe this is motivation to learn some Bf4 lines in the QGD.

Avatar of Optimissed
wiahwib wrote:
lovebecause wrote:
wiahwib wrote:
1st_Degree wrote:

You can played a poison pawn variation against the London

I have played many games over the years using a ...c6 and ...Qb6 line against the London. I had the most problems when White was daring enough to answer ...Qb6 with Nd2, playing it like a poisoned pawn. It's risky to capture on b2 but if you don't White simply accelerates development.

What is the continuation after Qxb2?

Here is a game I played here illustrating when White offers the b2 pawn. Unfortunately I am currently on mobile as I am out of town for the weekend and unable to add many notes. All I added was a transposition to the game via the move order you originally mentioned. I will try to add more notes at a later time. >>>

Black seems to have messed up. Leave the Q there where it threatens a2 and play either 6. ... Bg4 or 6. ... Nbd7. Bg4 looks too loosening so try Nd7.

 

 

 

Avatar of patrickc3000

"The Agile London System" is a great book to fill in the lines that Simon doesn't cover in his Chessbase videos.  It's got everything but probably isn't quite as aggressive, overall.

Avatar of 1st_Degree

I have an experience using a "London" against poison pawn and I'm lose. But i dont want to discuss about how can I lose. That is the thing that i dont wanna remember.

Avatar of 1st_Degree

I have an experience using a "London" against poison pawn and I'm lose. But i dont want to discuss about how can I lose. That is the thing that i dont wanna remember.

Avatar of Optimissed

I don't like Qc1. It's the option I'd least like to play. I do like b3 because it supports c2-c4. I think the move order 1.d4 2. Nf3 3. Bf4 is more flexible for white.

Avatar of WCPetrosian

In one of his books Winning with the Modern London System by GM Nikola Sedlak, (the book that covers 1...d5) after 1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 c6 3 e3 Qb6 his opinion is that 4 b3 is the best plan. He says 4 Qc1 is a possibility though. After 4 b3 Bf5 he considers 5 Bd3 the simplest plan, as played in the game Winants - Georgiev (Turin ol, 2006), that the bishop on f5 is strong and disturbs White's action on the queenside involving White's plan c4-c5-b4-b5. However, he also shows that in the game Kovacevic - Vukelic (Porec, 1998) White played 5 a3, did not put his bishop on d3, and White still managed to get a slight advantage. He doesn't like Black's ...c6 ...Qb6, believes it winds up helping White's action on the queenside. 

Avatar of mmmmmm_mmm
Whenever your opponent plays Nh5 to attack the f4 bishop I always like to retreat to g3 so if the knight takes I can play hxg3 opening the h file for my rook, the file becomes more dangerous when black castles on the kingside