Why is the London System so popular on Lichess, despite its bad performance at Master level?

At master level White only has 17% win rate vs. Black's 33% after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 g6. London System's performance for White is even worse than some uncommon openings like the Alekhine and Modern defense for Black. The London System may or may not have been refuted, but it's safe to say it's definitely not the strongest d4 opening at the top level.

So my question is, why is the London System so popular on Lichess, while the Alekhine and Modern defense are so rare despite the better performance? Here on Lichess, White only has 43% win rate vs. Black's 52% after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 g6 for players between 1600 and 2000. The London System is also quite weak at lower level, as long as Black knows the 'refute' line.

I agree

The London is especially good against d5 setups (Xe5). But that’s what they all play.

I play KID setups.

Playing a set-up and not paying attention to what your opponent does is quite popular at lower levels. You get a playable position and you know your structure and your typical plans.

The ppl I know personally, play the london because they like set-up based openings. All rather weak players like 1300 OTB.

@OSpengler said in #1:

Yeah.

It's good for amatuer level (Below 1600 FIDE) in OTB

As a London player, I personally consider it as a weapon as u can draw higher rated players by closing down or break open and start attacks, I do agree there are some ways of countering it but it is not that bad and is really useful in 1700-2200 I play London the whole time and got good results.

@j2009 said in #5:
> Yeah.
>
> It's good for amatuer level (Below 1600 FIDE) in OTB
THEN why top player uses it

@fgermuth said in #4:
> Playing a set-up and not paying attention to what your opponent does is quite popular at lower levels. You get a playable position and you know your structure and your typical plans.
>
> The ppl I know personally, play the london because they like set-up based openings. All rather weak players like 1300 OTB.

I mean what will you do after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Lf4!? Black can choose the opening.

@Sarg0n said in #8:
> I mean what will you do after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Lf4!? Black can choose the opening.

I know what you mean. But what I meant is... I dont care what you play I will play the moves:

d4, Bf4, Nf3 c3, e3 and so on. (thats why I said set-up based)

At least this is what the ppl I know like about the london.

I know, if you actually pay attention what your opponent does, the london is a complete different beast.
But his question was, why lower rated ppl like it.

@Ben10Tenyson Most top players don't play the London System. According to the Lichess database, only 5575 masters played Bf4 after 1.d4 Nf6, while 377790 masters played c4. Queen's Gambit is 67 times more popular than the London System at master level. At master level, London System is less popular than Trompowsky Attack, which is also very rare.