Is the London system a good opening to learn for a beginner?
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Never. Ever. Absolutely not. It can shortcut you some rating points, if that’s all you care about, but if you really want to learn chess and improve, you absolutely shouldn’t play a system opening like the London. It should be reserved for elite players only. Everyone else should be playing for fun and/or to improve instead. Better to learn opening theory and to protect your pieces, instead of just memorizing moves. If someone recommends London as a good beginner opening, question all of their advice. The London should not exist at sub-elite levels.
Mar 14, 2025
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#3
The main complaint about it is that it's boring. And by the way, if you don't know what you're doing, it doesn't matter how "good" your opening is. You'll get wrecked just the same.
Find the opening that you like and stick with it.
Yes.
wep08a wrote:
Never. Ever. Absolutely not. It can shortcut you some rating points, if that’s all you care about, but if you really want to learn chess and improve, you absolutely shouldn’t play a system opening like the London. It should be reserved for elite players only. Everyone else should be playing for fun and/or to improve instead. Better to learn opening theory and to protect your pieces, instead of just memorizing moves. If someone recommends London as a good beginner opening, question all of their advice. The London should not exist at sub-elite levels.
This doesn't make any sense.
Any reasonable opening is just as good as any other, no matter if you play for fun or to improve or whatever.
Mar 14, 2025
0
#6
wep08a wrote:
Never. Ever. Absolutely not. It can shortcut you some rating points, if that’s all you care about, but if you really want to learn chess and improve, you absolutely shouldn’t play a system opening like the London. It should be reserved for elite players only. Everyone else should be playing for fun and/or to improve instead. Better to learn opening theory and to protect your pieces, instead of just memorizing moves. If someone recommends London as a good beginner opening, question all of their advice. The London should not exist at sub-elite levels.
???
What is wrong with a beginner just playing d4,Bf4,e3 or d4,Nc3,Bf4 as the first three moves every game? That is not a lot to remember. Saying only "elite" players should play it is ridiculous. Having a fixed set up every game is good for learning because:
1 - You will see a similar pawn structure and move motifs in many of your games. This consistency will help you with building a general plan for your games. Also you can apply what you saw in previous games for your future games more easily.
2 - You can more confidently develop pieces in the opening if you work within the same opening set up, this frees up your brain to think about the middle game and other ideas such as tactics, pawn breaks, and piece coordination.
3 - You are less likely to fall for opening traps, once you fall for it you can learn from it and remember it for future games as you play the same set up. If you keep making random moves in the opening, you are less likely to see these traps and lose the game early. You don't learn much from short games.
I am not a London player, but you should have a consistent set up for your openings. There are many options to chose from, pick something that is intuitive and fun for you to play. People who say the London is "boring" should try playing the Jobava London as it can have a lot of aggressive ideas with the early knight move. Naroditsky has some interesting videos on it for his youtube.
Introduction To The London System & Jobava London System...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/the-london-system
For white at least, learn opening principles and you'll probably start playing a standard opening anyway by instinct.
Open with e4 and there's a good chance you'll play the Italian. Open with d4 and there's a good chance you'll play the London.
I think its worth trying out both D4 and E4 as an opening and figure out what you find fun playing. I tried out london system and it was not something I enjoyed playing, simply because I prefer the tactical positions that E4 openings provide.
The big downside with london system is that if you don't know how to open up the position, games end up incredibly dull which is why so many people hate the opening.
Mar 15, 2025
0
#10
its an s-tier beginner opening, it is easy to learn and will get you good positions with no cheap tricks to take you out, it is not as outstanding as you get up in ranking but considering it was even played at the last world championship, you can play it for life if you choose to.
So long as you dont think of only playing it the rest of your life and add other stuff later on, it is a great way to get your feet wet and learn the importance of opening principles.
Yes.
I've watched some YouTube videos that said it's alright for both beginners and club players. But I've seen some comments calling it a lazy opening. I don't understand what they mean by that. Should I still focus on learning it?