London system

The above variation is totally fine for black.

Samuel Johnson once said "If you're tired of London, you're tired of life." Johnson however was talking of the city and not chess, where the converse may be true.

I am just following the game thats been played now. Look at this interesting manouvre of white on move 21. Bf4 and then 22.Bc1   and we landed were we came from !

GM Simon Williams - London System in 5 Simple Steps...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDU83nDqCUc&t=52s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwjMSsiaZTQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAAo5g4myZM

A "crappy" GM winning with the "crap" opening at the 2016 Olympiad.....

Carlsen won because he 300 rating points higher, not because of his opening.  It was probably because his opponent was so much weaker that he knew he could play with a handicap and still win 

I see....Carlsen wanted to take the chance to see if he could beat an inferior opponent, and put his reputation on the line, by playing an inferior opening at an Olympiad....uh-huh...

I would hardly call it a handicap. Daniel Rensch couldn't win up a full rook against Komodo. 

With Carlsen and the GM it's about a 300 rating point difference, yet the difference between that and the difference between Komodo and Rensch is tiny compared to the difference between a rook up and playing the London. 

Carlsen could be pretty confident in winning had he played 1.a3. 

Another "crappy" GM decides to risk his rating, reputation and tournament results by playing the "crap" London System against an "inferior" opponent....

The point is that a World Champion, Super GM or any World Class player is not likely to risk playing an inferior opening at a Chess Olympiad, or at any important competition against GM, World class opponents...

Not sure what the Alekhine games prove, other than he was the superior player.  Obviously the London System doesn't guarantee a win, particularly when played by the inferior opponent.  But if the World Champion and other world class players see fit to play it against other world class competition and in major events, one would reasonably conclude that it is a perfectly viable opening.

the london system is my smothering blanket.

I've toyed with the London System in a few daily games (2 wins, 1 loss), where I could really study the opening, and Johnson and Kovacevic, Win With the London System are much more complete than the other books I have. It's gives more a more complete range of variations than, for example, Lakdawala's Play the London System, they point out that it's not necessarily the best set of moves for White but that they cancel out the advantage booked-up opponents may have in other systems, and they explain what kinds of middlegame structures can appear.

I would also point out there are LOTS of video series on the London System.

There is a 7-part series (12-21 min. per part, including a pgn file available for free download for each part to play along or analyze separately on a separate video board) on chess.com by Ginger GM (GM Simon Williams), He also has videos on the London System elsewhere, including a "latest developments" as of Jul. 5, 2017 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KahCgu1u7w

His 4 YouTube London videos are all listed here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQQ6Y41L8gPORQso4EvXLP6ucQUadXeUm

On YouTube, there are a lot of London-teaching videos including an 12-part short (5-15 min. per part) series on the London system by FIDE Master Stephen Jones, the first one being here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I0t_FD4ZwY

Jones also has a free ebook featuring 20 games meant to compliment the 12-part video series on the London System that's not annotated, It and other free goodies here: http://www.chesscreator.com/downloads

Each game is listed in algebraic notation so you can copy and paste it to the chess.com analysis board editor (https://www.chess.com/analysis-board-editor) or Lucas Chess or other software and either save it as a pgn before or after analyzing it with Stockfish.

There's also a "Sharpen Your Chess Sense - London System" 4-part series (28-36 min. per part) by "GM CHESS LESSONS," taught by acclaimed book writer and teacher IM John Watson that is very good.  The first part is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4uf0bnQUAc

Personally, I restrict playing the London System to games where my Black opponent plays 1...d5 to my 1 d4 unless there's a quick transposition. After 1 d4 Nf6, I don't try to steer the game into the London System - I go right to c4 and play the standard Queen's Pawn game against the King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, or whatever Black chooses because I feel more comfortable and knowledgeable playing against those defenses that way.

I have a friend who plays a move against the London I'm not sure how to respond to. 

1. e4 e5 2. Bf4 f6

The pawn push I have not seen before and he always attacks f4 on move 3.  How should I respond?   

I never understand why some people claim the London is boring. It can lead to huge kingside attacks. Black does have a couple of ways to fight for the initiative on the queenside, but those can be very tactical and risky, not boring.