[Event "Ideas in the London System: Anti-London For Black"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/El9igr12/Q2BwC651"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/Degocortes"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Opening "Indian Defense"]
[UTCDate "2022.09.14"]
[UTCTime "15:14:11"]
[Variant "Standard"]

{ If you are playing black and you face the London System, I recommend you play the method I showcase in this chapter.

I must admit...I've had quite a hard time against this method by black... .__. } 1. d4 { It works if you play Nf6 or d5 (c5 works too) [%cal Bg8f6,Bd7d5,Gc7c5] } 1... Nf6 { Bf4 or Nf3 [%cal Gg1f3,Gc1f4] } ( 1... d5 2. Bf4 c5 { Same idea [%cal Gd8b6] } ) ( 1... c5 { If you know for a fact that your opponent plays London Opening, then the Old Benoni works well and forces them to play differently [%csl Gd5][%cal Gd4d5] } 2. d5 ) 2. Bf4 { London Opening [%csl Gf4] } ( 2. Nf3 { Normally I play the Nimzo-Indian Defense. However I think e6 is a bad move against Nf3, because it may transpose into a London Mainline, which is good for white. [%csl Be6][%cal Be7e6] } 2... c5 { Instead I would just play c5 right here and learn the Benoni-ish ideas } 3. d5 e6 4. c4 b5 5. dxe6 fxe6 6. cxb5 d5 ) 2... c5 { Bam. We strike in the center immediately at white's presently loose d4 pawn. And we want to swing our queen to b6, punishing white for playing Bf4 early.
You have to play c5 on either move one or move 2. If you wait till the 3rd move it allows white to organize himself. Right now, either e3 or c3 lead to undesired positions for white. White also has the move d4-d5 which is very interesting. [%csl Bb6,Gd5,Ge3,Gc3][%cal Rc5d4,Bd8b6,Yb6b2,Gd4d5,Ge2e3,Gc2c3] } 3. d5 { Here you have two ideas: Play the aggressive Qb6 or try to play for e5. Both ways are better for black [%csl Bd6,Be5,Rb6][%cal Bd7d6,Be7e5,Rd8b6] } ( 3. c3 { This looks like an okay move cause it defends the pawn and white can meet Qb6 with Qb3. [%csl Gc3][%cal Gc3d4,Rd8b6,Rd1b3] } 3... Qb6 4. Qb3 { Here you have a few different move orders, but black should be better in all [%cal Rc5d4,Rb6b3] } 4... Qxb3 ( 4... cxd4 5. Qxb6 axb6 6. cxd4 Nc6 7. e3 Nb4 8. Na3 Rxa3 9. bxa3 Nc2+ 10. Kd2 Nxa1 ) 5. axb3 cxd4 6. cxd4 { [%csl Rb3,Rb2] } 6... Nc6 7. e3 Nb4 ) ( 3. e3 { This defends the pawn in the way white actually wants to, but the problem is black has this annoying Qb6 [%csl Gd4,Rb2][%cal Ge3d4,Rd8b6] } 3... Qb6 { And white can't play Qb3 the way they like to. [%csl Gb3][%cal Rb6b2,Gd1b3] } 4. b3 ( 4. Nc3 Qxb2 5. Nb5 Nd5 { [%csl Gc7][%cal Rd5f4,Gd5c7] } ) 4... g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. c3 O-O 7. Bd3 d5 ( 7... Nc6 ) ) 3... d6 ( 3... Qb6 { Attacking b2. The two moves I will consider are b3 and Nc3. [%csl Gc3,Gb3][%cal Rb6b2,Gb1c3,Gb2b3] } 4. Nc3 { White sacrifices the pawn } ( 4. b3 { Common move by weaker or uninformed players } 4... Qb4+ 5. Bd2 Qd4 { [%cal Rd4a1,Rd4d5] } 6. Nc3 Nxd5 7. Nb5 Qe4 { [%csl Gc7][%cal Gd5c7] } ) 4... Qxb2 5. Bd2 Qb6 { You need to come back to b6 to avoid any traps.
Now as black you need to try and develop quickly to consolidate your extra pawn before white can get any initiative. } 6. e4 d6 ( 6... e5 ) 7. f4 g6 8. Nf3 Bg7 { [%csl Ga1,Ge5,Gd4][%cal Gg7a1] } 9. Rb1 Qd8 10. Bb5+ Nfd7 11. O-O O-O 12. a4 Na6 13. Ne2 Nc7 14. Bd3 ) 4. Nc3 e5 { [%csl Gg5][%cal Gd5e6,Gf4d2,Gf4g5] } 5. Bd2 ( 5. dxe6 Bxe6 { [%cal Gf8e7,Gb8c6,Ge8g8,Ya7a6,Yb7b5,Yd6d5] } 6. Nf3 Be7 7. e4 O-O 8. Bd3 Nc6 9. O-O ) ( 5. Bg5 { Probably white's best } 5... h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e4 { When black's bishops are not that great (yet) [%csl Ge4,Gd5] } ) 5... Bf5 6. f3 { White's intention is to play e4, so we should stop them [%cal Re2e4] } 6... e4 { d4 players are having a hard time here [%csl Be4][%cal Be5e4] } *