[Event "The Mighty London System!: A strange trap... And how to avoid it!"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/HM0m7zRB/GcCPA02I"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/george_mcgeorge"]
[ECO "D00"]
[Opening "Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London System"]
[UTCDate "2021.05.19"]
[UTCTime "12:19:48"]
[Variant "Standard"]

1. d4 d5 { [%csl Gf4][%cal Gc1f4] } 2. Bf4 { [%csl Rh5][%cal Rh7h5] } 2... h5 { This is the beginning of a weird trap: Black wants to trap our Bishop, and so the usual good and natural 3.e3 does not work, because it would play into Black's hands. Because of this, it is recommended to delay the e3-move and to play Nf3. Play 3.e3 to see, how devastating the trap could be! [%csl Re3][%cal Re2e3] } 3. Nf3 { Through this move we would avoid the trap, and we would develop our Knight, while our Opponent chose to move his h-pawn, which now seems rather random and unnecessary. To see the trap, you need to have a look on the here given text: } ( 3. e3 e5 { It's a trap! We would have to capture the pawn with either our Bishop or our pawn, but both captures lead to the loss of our Bishop: [%csl Rf4,Re5][%cal Re5f4] } 4. Bxe5 { This would be the most promising option, but nethertheless we would lose our Bishop. Then again, Black's Kingside will be severely weakened and we have "some compensation" } ( 4. dxe5 { This also runs into our Bishop getting trapped. } 4... g5 { Our Bishop is lost. Our disappointment is immeasurable and our day is ruined. [%csl Rg5,Rf4][%cal Rd8g5,Rg5f4] } 5. Bg3 h4 { Nothing to do here. [%csl Rg3][%cal Rh4g3] } ) ( 4. Bg3 h4 { We can not escape with our Bishop. [%csl Rg3][%cal Rh4g3] } 5. Bxe5 f6 { There is nothing we can do about that. [%csl Re5][%cal Rf6e5] } 6. Bf4 g5 { No way for our Bishop, sadly. [%csl Rf4][%cal Rg5f4] } 7. Bxg5 fxg5 { Although these pawns a weakened, we are still a piece down and so we are lost, to be frank. [%csl Rg5,Rh4] } ) 4... f6 { Attacking our Bishop. To over-extend Black's Kingside we should retreat one square. [%csl Rf6][%cal Rf6e5] } 5. Bf4 { [%csl Gf4] } 5... g5 { [%csl Rg5][%cal Rg5f4] } 6. Be2 { This would threaten Black's h-pawn and threaten Black's Castling rights [%cal Gd1e2,Gd1h5] } ( 6. Bg3 h4 ) 6... gxf4 { This is more or less forced: If Black does not capture our Bishop, he would be severely weakened and we would be happy. But Black takes our Bishop. } 7. Bxh5+ { Destroying Black's Castling rights. } 7... Ke7 8. exf4 { Although we have little compensation, Black is still a piece up, and our usual London plans of building the c3, d4, e3 pyramid aswell as the placement of our pieces would need overthinking. To be frank: We would have little to nothing here. } ) ( 3. Nc3 { Maybe another good move, but probably inferior to 3.Nc3, because we can't move our c-pawn anymore. } 3... Bf5 4. e3 { Through this move we would get a slightly better Jobava-London, because Black wasted time with his h-pawn. [%csl Gb5][%cal Gc3b5] } ( 4. Nf3 { Probably another good move, after all, we would be developing the Knight. } ) ) 3... e6 { Engines top choice. We would be heading into a normal London, with the exeption, that Black randomly played a move with the h-pawn, which wasted the time, that could have been used to develop a piece - like we did! } ( 3... Bf5 { A good developing move, but it won't compensate for the lack of development Black has: We have to pieces out and Black got only the Bishop to show forüòé } 4. c4 { We can be happy with this position, we will put our Q-Knih¬¥ght out to c3 and open up the Bishop with e3: A pleasent position! [%csl Gc3,Ge3][%cal Gb1c3,Ge2e3] } ) ( 3... Nf6 4. e3 { We would just have a lead in development, and we could go for c4 or c3, also we could develop our Q-Knight could develope to d2 or maybe even c3. All in all a pleasent position! [%csl Gd3][%cal Gf1d3] } ) ( 3... c5 4. e3 { Strengthening the center, while openng the scope of the Bishop. } ( 4. Nc3 { Like in the Jobava-London, we would go for an e4 break in the center, after all, why shouldn't we do it, we have the development, not our Opponent! [%csl Ge4][%cal Ge2e4] } 4... e6 5. e4 Nf6 6. exd5 Nxd5 { We are more or less forced to take, but we are happy to do so. [%csl Rf4][%cal Rd5c3,Rd5f4] } ( 6... exd5 ) 7. Nxd5 Qxd5 ( 7... exd5 { If we would take on c5 we would be heading into an Isolated-Queens-Pawn structure. We should castle long, because we would pressurize the d-pawn and we would be less likely being attacked üòÉ } 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Qd2 { [%csl Gc1][%cal Ge1c1] } ) 8. dxc5 Qxd1+ 9. Rxd1 Bxc5 { We would be happy with this structure, since we are almost fully developed, while our Opponent only put his Boshop out. WE are ready for this Queen-less-middlegame, not our Opponent. [%csl Ge5,Gc4,Gb5][%cal Gf3e5,Gf1b5,Gf1c4] } ) 4... cxd4 5. exd4 { We most probably would be heading for a c4 break, with an isolated Queen's pawn structure. Otherwise we would play c3 and enjoy a better exchange Caro-Kann-esque structure, because of our development advantage and the weakened h-pawn of Black's üôÇ } ) 4. e3 { We may have intentions to go 5.c4 or whenether the time seems right. } 4... Bd6 { Black wants to trade Bishops, and normally we would slide the Bishop back to g3, but not this time } 5. Bxd6 ( 5. Bg3 h4 { Now we would have to move the Bishop again, to capture the opposing one. This is not what we want, since we would waste time, although one can argue that Black's h-pawn is the weakest pawn that ever wandered the h-file (So it will probably trade itself for our g-pawn, which is not our intention) [%csl Rg3][%cal Rh4g3] } 6. Bxd6 Qxd6 { We would hace the same position as if we would have taken the Bishop in the first place, the difference beeing, that Black is one step closer to exchanging his weak h-pawn for our healthy g-pawn, which would become a weak doubled h-pawn. [%csl Rh3][%cal Rh4h3] } ) 5... Qxd6 6. c4 { This would be a nice, Queens-gambit-declined-esque position. We would put our Knight on c3, take the c-pawn back with our Bishop. Our Queen could go to c2, our K-Knight would look at the e5-square, our Bishop may wants to go to e2 or d3, and we could castle long or short. [%csl Gc3][%cal Gb1c3] } *