1.d4 and 2.Bf4
The London System
One set-up against almost everything Black plays: d4, Bf4, e3, Nf3, Bd3 and c3. The plans, the breaks, and the sharp tries like …c5 and …Qb6, checked by Stockfish against millions of club games.
The London System is the opening of players who would rather play chess than memorise theory. White puts the pawns on d4 and e3, brings the bishop to f4 before e3 shuts it in, and develops the same pieces to the same squares against almost any defence: Nf3, Bd3, Nbd2, c3 and castling.
That is its strength and its risk. Because the set-up is the same, you can learn it quickly and spend your thinking on the middlegame. But Black knows where your pieces are going too, and has a few sharp tries, above all …c5 with …Qb6, hitting b2 the moment the bishop has left c1. This book gives you one clear answer to each of them, and shows when to leave the system: against 1…c5 you play 2.d5, and against the Leningrad Dutch you attack with h4.
The book plays 2.Bf4 straight away, before Nf3, as most London players do today. The chapters follow Black's first moves, from the most common, 1…d5, to the Englund Gambit.
Chapters
- 11…d5 with …Nf6, …e6 or …c6The heart of the London: e3, Nf3, Bd3, Nbd2 and c3, with the bishop going back to g3 when Black offers to trade it. Then Ne5 or the break e4.
- 21…d5: …c5, …Nc6 and …Bf5Black's active second moves. Against …c5, e3 and c3 keep d4 solid; against …Nc6, c4 hits d5 at once; against …Bf5, the usual set-up with Bg3.
- 3Against the King's Indian set-upAgainst …g6 and …Bg7, the London stays modest: e3, Nf3, Be2, castling and h3. Against …d6 without …g6 yet, White can take more of the centre with Nc3 and e4.
- 4…c5 and the …Qb6 raidAfter 1…Nf6 2.Bf4 or 1…e6 2.Bf4, Black's sharpest try is …c5 and …Qb6, hitting b2. White answers with e3 and, if the queen takes, a knight jump to b5.
- 5The Dutch, the Benoni and 1…c6Against the Dutch, the usual set-up, and h4 if Black plays the Leningrad with …g6. Against 1…c5, leave the system: 2.d5. Against 1…c6, 2.Bf4 and the first chapter after …d5.
- 6The Englund GambitTake the pawn with 2.dxe5. In the main line, 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 Qxb2 and then 6.Nc3, not 6.Bc3??.
How this book was checked
Every move recommended for White is within 0.3 pawns of Stockfish 18's first choice at depth 20, with one deliberate exception: against 1…g6 the engine prefers 2.e4, and the book plays 2.Bf4, because that is the system. Every Black reply played in at least 5% of club games is covered, checked against millions of Lichess blitz and rapid games between 1600 and 2000 rated players, and so are the rarer first moves 1…g6, 1…c5, 1…c6, 1…d6, 1…f5 and 1…e5. Where several moves are equally sound, the book takes the one that keeps the London set-up, and then the one that scores best at club level. Every mistake and trap shown is confirmed by the engine, and every number in a note comes from the engine, not from memory.