London is boring

If you manage to get the e5 push BEFORE your opponent plays Nf3, it's bad news for the London player.

Amen!

Don't judge the London by someone who plays 2 moves of it and then abandons its principles. :D

3. Nc3 was way premature. h3 would have been better in this position, in my opinion.

(Why? It makes Nh5 futile by allowing Bh2. Without g6 being played, e3 would also prevent Nh5. Once the king's knight is out, white should be trying to preserve his dark bishop. Nc3 blocks the natural c4.)

@WassimBerbar said in #1:
> If you manage to get the e5 push BEFORE your opponent plays Nf3, it's bad news for the London player.

No, London is one of the best games to start with, but you do not know how to play it right !

@Attacker1386 said in #4:
> No, London is one of the best games to start with, but you do not know how to play it right !

the london is boring.

@Attacker1386 said in #4:
> No, London is one of the best games to start with.

I've heard about the London as a boring setup-based opening where you play the same thing everytime. It's my personal opinion, you can always play the London if you want, but perso, I don't want to.

@Attacker1386 also said in #4:
> but you do not know how to play it right !

Yes, I don't know how to play it lol, because I've already some very good openings with e4 such as scotch, italian, sicil... caro-kann, KID etc.

I play this setup too, but I put the knight to c6:

I think good players often learn the KID simply to beat weaker draw-happy London System players. It seems very risky for me to play 1...d5 against a weaker player's 1.d4 because of the drawish London System. I do agree with the title of the post. Interestingly, most of the games in discussion are London System's against the KID. This setup against the KID is probably one of the best versions of the London System, and not boring. Last I checked, Black has to play weird double-fianchetto ideas or ...e6 followed by Qe7. London System players, watch out for Nh5, and learn the art of playing h3, and after mastering this, learn when you don't have to play h3.

@jeffreyashton said in #8:
> I think good players often learn the KID simply to beat weaker draw-happy London System players. It seems very risky for me to play 1...d5 against a weaker player's 1.d4 because of the drawish London System. I do agree with the title of the post. Interestingly, most of the games in discussion are London System's against the KID. This setup against the KID is probably one of the best versions of the London System, and not boring. Last I checked, Black has to play weird double-fianchetto ideas or ...e6 followed by Qe7. London System players, watch out for Nh5, and learn the art of playing h3, and after mastering this, learn when you don't have to play h3.
Though there are anti-London and anti-Trompovsky systems which prevent both systems BUT you should know how to play Sicilian and French
I agree with the title too

Although I personally like the London System a lot, it is quite often seen as "the bad beginner Opening where you don't have to think at all and always end up drawing", and sadly, there is some truth to it:

Yes, the London is a quite popular beginner Opening which teaches the set up, not the principals of the Opening (I think the Italian is one of the best Openings a beginner can learn, because it actually let's you play chess with a "real" Opening, not a System, so you don't have to memorize and instead get to understand). And sadly, most London Players do play their first few moves without thinking too much and then they deviate and end up in a worse position, because they don't think too much - they don't learn to calculate or judge any position, just because of their "auto-pilot play". Another drawback of the London is it's tendency to end in a draw - which admittedly isn't the worst nor the best thing. And probably the most annoying thing is, that the London is so solid, which also makes it a little boring, especially if you have to face this Opening, that seemingly can not be avoided...

But the London is also great: If you are playing the London, you know, that you are solid as a rock, but you also have somewhat of an attacking potential. Especially the Jobava-Rapport System has great attacking potential. Also, a inaccuracy isn't so devastating as it would be in an Open Game - at least in most cases.

So, is the London boring? Well, in my Opinion it depends on the London set up and the reply by Black (A Jobava-Rapport System against a d5, c6 set up is more boring than against a g6, Bg7, 0-0 set up, where attacking chances are most of the times quite good).
Is the London generally boring - if you face it with White: It depends. If you face it with Black, I do think it is, indeed, boring.

But that is my contribution to the clash.
Also, this seems quite fitting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfK-WX2pa8c