Yeah it depends on style.If someone likes to play positional its fine but I like tactical attacking games.I find no point in grinding for 45 mins and reaching a rook endgame and making a slight mistake that loses the game or just gives a draw.Rather tactical games are more fun but then again it depends...
Is the London System boring or just misunderstood?
The London isn't boring. The problem is that in most cases, neither player knows anything about it beyond the rote formation (and a rote counter.) If two such people play each other, that's a QP version of the Giuico Pianissimo that beginners used to play, and THAT is quite boring.
White and Black both need the ability to deviate from the London pattern:
- On the white side, QP openings are rife with transposition possibilities, so white has to know when they can turn the London into a QGD advantageously. Since most London players are beginners playing it just to avoid learning the Queen's Gambit and all the sharper variations that come after playing 1. d4 and 2. c4, they don't really know how.
- On the black side, white's development plan puts no pressure on black to play certain moves in the manner that the move 2. c4 does, so black can choose a development plan that takes advantage of that. It's hard to do this against a GM who plays this and is also steeped in opening theory, but against a beginner it's easy to think of ways to foul up white's plans. (The most brazen attempt I've seen is 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 Nh5, and the white player is going to be disappointed in some way.)
As an advanced player, I can take the beginner London player to the slaughterhouse. That's not because I know reams of theory, it's because I know that beginner London players don't deviate from the pattern if not directly threatened, so I can do what I want. And what I want is to set up a counter-formation that makes things difficult for the rote London player in the middlegame.
If you find the London is for you, then by all means play it. It's not my cup of tea, then again, neither are jellied eels or mushy peas.
ya some people love grinding others want chaos
The London isn't boring. The problem is that in most cases, neither player knows anything about it beyond the rote formation (and a rote counter.) If two such people play each other, that's a QP version of the Giuico Pianissimo that beginners used to play, and THAT is quite boring.
White and Black both need the ability to deviate from the London pattern:
- On the white side, QP openings are rife with transposition possibilities, so white has to know when they can turn the London into a QGD advantageously. Since most London players are beginners playing it just to avoid learning the Queen's Gambit and all the sharper variations that come after playing , they don't really know how.
- On the black side, white's development plan puts no pressure on black to play certain moves in the manner that the move does, so black can choose a development plan that takes advantage of that. It's hard to do this against a GM who plays this and is also steeped in opening theory, but against a beginner it's easy to think of ways to foul up white's plans. (The most brazen attempt I've seen is Nf6 2.Bf4 Nh5, and the white player is going to be disappointed in some way.)
As an advanced player, I can take the beginner London player to the slaughterhouse. That's not because I know reams of theory, it's because I know that beginner London players don't deviate from the pattern if not directly threatened, so I can do what I want. And what I want is to set up a counter-formation that makes things difficult for the rote London player in the middlegame.
Agreed. the london works when you understand ideas, not when you just copy moves
If you find the London is for you, then by all means play it. It's not my cup of tea, then again, neither are jellied eels or mushy peas.