If that bothers you, don't develop the bishop to d3. On the other hand, c4 is a positional mistake by black, so it should not bother you.
The most important thing is that you should not think about opening lines at all. You should focus on improving your middlegame skills, mostly tactics. You tried a grand total of 3 puzzles? Seriously? That is the best tool to get better at chess.
The simplest option is to trade on e4 and put a very strong knight on e5 where it is defended by the bishop and the pawn, and you also damage anything Black has tried building so far.
Take the knight with the Bishop. You're going to be in a significantly better position after you play Ne5. Note that after this position he can't immediately play f6 to chase away your Knight as it loses a Rook after Qh5+. Black has nothing better to play after the exchange than a quiet developing move, after which you can comfortably proceed with Nd2 or O-O.
Take the knight with the Bishop. You're going to be in a significantly better position after you play Ne5. Note that after this position he can't immediately play f6 to chase away your Knight as it loses a Rook after Qh5+. Black has nothing better to play after the exchange than a quiet developing move, after which you can comfortably proceed with Nd2 or O-O.
Yeah I'm sorry I didn't mention it in the situation, but generally the knight moves away once i move my bishop to threaten it. Then I generally either castle or move my queenside knight and then the black pawn moves to threaten my bishop, so taking the knight obviously isnt an option
Fair enough. Bc2 would be the best move afterwards, then, like Spotkins said. You won't have the Queen battery available, but the Bishop will still eye h7 for a potential Greek gift should Black castle kingside. Nbd2 and O-O are still both comfortable moves and the order doesn't particularly matter. Play whichever you'd like and then the other after Bc2. I personally prefer Nbd2 as it waits to see if Black is going to challenge the dark squared Bishop and help open the h-file. At least to me delaying castling feels thematic in supporting the Greek gift if given the chance to rock the Bishop back to g3.
Fair enough. Bc2 would be the best move afterwards, then, like Spotkins said. You won't have the Queen battery available, but the Bishop will still eye h7 for a potential Greek gift should Black castle kingside. Nbd2 and O-O are still both comfortable moves and the order doesn't particularly matter. Play whichever you'd like and then the other after Bc2. I personally prefer Nbd2 as it waits to see if Black is going to challenge the dark squared Bishop and help open the h-file. At least to me delaying castling feels thematic in supporting the Greek gift if given the chance to rock the Bishop back to g3.
Yeah i sometimes move my bishop to b2 anyways so I can pounce a greek gift if the king castles queenside. Only reason I like it on d3 in the first place is because it's a nice sniping position and really limits my opponents queen options.
I'm no London expert, but instead of Bd3.... what's so wrong with Bg3? The knight on e4 can be attacked later if the bishop isn't taken and either way, black is likely to either: a) lose grip on the center being forced to take back if the knight is captured via Nbd2 Nxe4 or b) allow Ne5, which is positionally very strong for white (as many mentioned).
Not really sure if this is the right place to put this (please refer me to the correct place to do so) but often when playing the London system I come across this situation and I have just no idea how to counter it. As you can see, my bishop on d3 is threatened and after moving back, I lose my positioning and my entire game just begins to fall apart.
