lichess.org
Donate

Why everyone hates the London System opening?

the opening is solid up to very high level and has some venomous lines (check eric rosen YT for that) but it usually leads to very static positions where the opposing sides have control over different colour squares. even tho the setup is solid straight out of the box rerouting pieces can be really hard and actually easier for black. king side attack with sacrifices is also often easier for black. pawn breaks are hard to find.

the middle game positions are rough for beginners imho. if your not deep into the theory you just wait for some miraculous blunder of your opponent or trade one by one to make it to the endgame. if you dont know alot of sharp lines in the london system you are giving away whites tempo advantage very quickly.

personally i do alot better with scandinavian or sicilian playing black than with the london system (or any white opening for that matter). seems i have to learn some more opening theory for white. at the moment trying to get the evans gambit on the board whenever possible, seems to be alot of fun and tactical action even tho usually i manage to blunder the move order and lose it will never result in a boring game, thats for sure! www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUQQ4dym5ZU&t=0s
Personally, I have nothing against people who play the London, nor people who hate it.
It's easy to learn and solid, Which is why people like to play it.
It's simple and can easily get repetitive, which is why people don't like to play against it.
People are allowed to play whatever they want. And people are allowed to not like playing against whatever they dislike.
So the reason why everyone hates the London system is: because it is sooooo boring to play against and also with. Now, for beginners it is the ideal opening. It is a suuuper solid opening but not much is happening. I suggest that beginners play the london system. But most people hate it because basically social dictates them too. They dont really know why though.

Hope that helps :)
<Comment deleted by user>
i do wonder why people hate. No reason just as good opening as any. annoying part is that white gets good king side attack if he/she playes it correctly. Then again what opening does not?
London System is great.
I don't care if people like it or not.
This is chess, objectives are: win the game or achieve draws if you can't win. Loosing is not an option. It is a consequence of not being able to be precise in your game.
Any system is good as far as you feel confident playing it. It is not because I don't like certain openings I have to hate it. Better finding a way to balance the game in your favor. I read somewhere that the chinese players have a different approach to chess. They focus on the position and not so much on opening theories. And it seems it works for them. They do study the openings but it seems they rather focus on the position itself.
Please, correct me if I am wrong about it
Cheers

This topic has been archived and can no longer be replied to.