Refutation of the Jobava London System

   In a surprising announcement, GM Mikhail Ploppachenko has stated that he has completely refuted the chess opening known as the Jobava London Sysytem. The so-called Jobava London is a line made popular by GM Baadur Jobava. With it, the Georgian grandmaster has defeated some of the world's top players. However, according to Ploppachenko, the opening is now "obsolete".

    Mikhail Ploppachenko is known for his controversial comments and unorthodox playing style. He once tried to castle on the first move in a game. When told the move was illegal, he said "Arrest me!" Another time, he stole his opponents queen and held it for ransom. Now, he's made an outlandish claim that has left the chess world quite doubtful.

      At a press conference, Ploppachenko explained his position. "I have studied and analyzed this ridiculous opening for two years," he said, "And I can assure you, this Jobava London thing is a bunch a' hooey!" A reported then said "Some of the world's best players have struggled against this opening. What makes you think you'll do any better?"

      Ploppachenko chuckled. "Ha! World's best? You mean clowns like Carlsen? Giri? Federer?"

      The reported interupted "But Federer is a tennis player." 

     "I don't care if he's the Wizard of Oz .... I'll crush 'em just the same!" Ploppachenko shot back. 

     Another question came: "How soon came we expect to see this 'refutation' in action?"

    "Like real soon!" Ploppachenko said. "I'm playing in the Boppaloopy Open this afternoon, and I dare anybody to try this goofy Jobava London System against me!"

    As fate would have it, Ploppachenko was actually paired with the man himself, Baadur Jobava, in the first round. "I'll make short work of this fish." Ploppachenko predicted. "Baadur is a pretty suspicious character, if you ask me. He says he's from Georgia. But I was in Atlanta last week, and they never heard of the guy there."

    The game, shown below, turned out to be quite short: a mere three moves. Why such brevity? And why does the final position not look like a Jobava London? 

The game began quite simply enough, with a few typical moves. But then Baadur played 3.Bg5, instead of the usual 3.Bf4, as in the Jobava London. Bg5 is another common line, but it's not what Mikhail expected.

     "What's that?" Ploppachenko asked Jobava.

     "Whaddya' mean 'what's that'? That's my move, Bg5." Jobava said.

     An angry Ploppachenko pressed "What da' hell is that? You can't play that!. You have to play Bf4!"

    "I'll play whatever I want! I'm playing Bg5." Jobava insisted.

    "Put it back! Put that bishop on f4!" Ploppachenko screamed.

   "No!" Jobava snapped.

    "But Bf4 is the Jobava London! You're Jobava! You have to play the Jobava London!!" an irate Ploppachenko yelled.

At this point, the tournament director, Gaylord Fitzbibbee, seeing the commotion, approached the players. "What's seems to be the problem, people?" he asked.

     "You keep out of this, jerk!" Ploppachenko said.

     "Don't call me jerk, idiot!" the tournament director said. 

    "How'd you like a punch inna' nose. jerk?" Ploppachenko said. Then he just went crazy, screaming and yelling, gesticulating wildly. "You're all against me! Jobava! Fischer! Capablanca! Johnny Depp! You're all a bunch a' lunatics!!"

     Eventually, security guards were called in. They dragged Ploppachenko, kicking and screaming, out of the playing hall, and tossed him into a back alley like yesterday's garbage.

      The game, of course, was declared a victory for Baadur and a forfeit for Ploppachenko. So, just exactly what this "refutation" of the Jobava London System is remains a mystery. Perhaps, when Ploppachenko gets out of the county jail, where he's serving 30 days for disturbing the peace, we'll find out.......

Thank you! We'll never know the refutation now...

Nice story. Did you write it yourself?

     Hey, whaddya' mean? Are you implying that I made this story up? 

Ha ha! Of course I did. When you play as badly as I do, you inevitably end up resorting to the most desperate strategy: low comedy.

No you don't. That's a false assertion. Just keep studying, work, and get better .

I'm very happy and thankful that not everything is about studying and working, but that there is also comedy and humour. 

   Thanks for the words of encouragement, but actually I exaggerated how poor my play is. I usually play at about 1600+, which is nothing special, but it's somewhat respectable. My rating used to read 1689 by my name, but a few months ago I think Chess.com did some kind of a reshuffling of games, adding a "rapid" category or something, and now it shows 1379. It's kind of funny, too, because I haven't played a game on Chess.com in over four years. I play mostly on lichess and chess24. I like their sound effects better......

Haha “I was in Atlanta last week”

"I like their sound effects better" That and they have the more creative piece and board designs.

I play the Jobava London and am pretty happy with it.