The London System is an opening system in chess where White opens with 1.d4 and develops the dark-squared bishop to f4, then supports the d4-pawn with pawns on e3 and c3. The other bishop is developed to d3 (or occasionally e2) and the knights typically to f3 and d2. This set-up often results in a closed game . The London System can be used against virtually any Black defence and thus comprises a smaller body of opening theory than many other openings. Although it has a reputation as a solid opening, the London System has faced criticism for its tedious nature and lack of dynamic play .
19-737: The rapid development of the dark-squared bishop in the London System can be contrasted with the Colle System , in which the queen's bishop typically remains on c1 during the opening phase of the game. The British-American James Mason was the first master -level player to regularly employ the London System, including at the strong 1882 Vienna Tournament (in which he finished third) and later at tournaments at London (1883) and New York (1889). The opening did not catch on, and received limited outings in master play in subsequent decades. It did, however, appear with some regularity in
38-459: A list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece ; for a list of terms specific to chess problems , see Glossary of chess problems ; for a list of named opening lines , see List of chess openings ; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants ; for a list of terms general to board games , see Glossary of board games . Baadur Jobava Baadur Jobava ( Georgian : ბაადურ ჯობავა ; born 26 November 1983)
57-485: A particularly wide range of possibilities in the early stages as White's London structure exerts little influence on Black's side of the board. Black may therefore develop freely. Common options include: A popular response to the London System at higher levels of play is an early ...c5, allowing ...Qb6 (aiming at White's weak b2-pawn, which is no longer defended by a bishop on c1). This seeks to disrupt White's comfortable development system. The line 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 3.e3 Qb6
76-617: A performance rating of 2926 which is the highest performance rating for board 1 since Garry Kasparov's 2933 performance rating in 2002. Jobava is credited with popularizing an opening sometimes called the Jobava London System , successfully employing it against Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov , also known as the Rapport–Jobava System , which is characterized by the moves 1.d4, 2.Nc3, and 3.Bf4. The opening
95-480: A set-up for White employing the following moves (which can be played in a variety of move orders ): d4, Nf3, Bf4, e3, Bd3, Nbd2, c3. The move h3 is often also played, enabling the bishop on f4 to drop back to h2 if attacked, thus remaining on the same diagonal and continuing to influence e5. Following the publication of the influential 2005 work Win with the London System by Sverre Johnsen and Vlatko Kovačević , it has become common for White to prefer to develop
114-612: Is a Georgian chess grandmaster and three-time Georgian champion (2003, 2007, 2012 ). He competed in the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2004 and in the FIDE World Cup in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2017, where he reached round of 16 after defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi , and in 2021. He also participated in the FIDE Grand Prix 2014–15 , where he finished joint 4th out of 12 participants in
133-664: The Tashkent Leg after beating Sergey Karjakin . He won the individual board performance gold medals in the Chess Olympiads of 2004 and 2016. Jobava won the Dubai Open in 2003 with a score of 7 points out of 9. He took part in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 , where he was knocked out in the first round by Ruben Felgaer . He won the 2nd Samba Cup in Skanderborg , Denmark in 2005. In 2006 Jobava won
152-419: The 21st century the London System has become popular amongst club-level players due to its solid nature, clear plans and lack of aggressive responses by Black. One of the most famous games of the 21st century utilizing the London System was round 6 of the 2023 World Chess Championship between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi , in which Ding used it to win with the white pieces. The London System consists of
171-658: The European Individual Championship in Minsk , taking the silver medal on tiebreak. In 2019, Jobava took clear first place in Abu Dhabi Masters scoring 8/9 points and 2904 performance rating. Jobava has a (+2−2=3) record against Magnus Carlsen , (+2−1=3) record against Sergey Karjakin , (+1−1=3) record against Ian Nepomniachtchi , (+4−0=1) record against Leinier Domínguez and a (+2−0=2) record against Teimour Radjabov . Jobava won
190-897: The Lake Sevan tournament in Martuni and won the event on tie-break. In December 2011 he won the 32nd Edoardo Crespi Trophy in Milan with 8½/9, finishing two points ahead of second placed Vladimir Malaniuk . In the same month Jobava won the European Rapid Chess Championship in Warsaw ahead of 746 players. In January 2014, Jobava finished equal second and third on tiebreak in the Tata Steel Challengers tournament in Wijk aan Zee scoring 8½/13. In
209-822: The London set-up soon became the standard response for Black against the Réti Opening (this line being named the New York Variation, after its use in Réti –Capablanca during the New York 1924 tournament ). Although the London System remains rare in grandmaster tournaments, it has been played occasionally by players including Bent Larsen , Tony Miles , Teimour Radjabov , Vladimir Kramnik and Fabiano Caruana , and more frequently by players such as Gata Kamsky , Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen . During
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#1732791635137228-735: The Railyaway Hotel Cup and the prestigious Aeroflot Open . In 2008 he tied for 1st–8th with Nigel Short , Vadim Milov , Aleksej Aleksandrov , Tamaz Gelashvili , Alexander Lastin , Gadir Guseinov and Farid Abbasov in the President's Cup in Baku . Jobava won the silver medal in the European Individual Championship 2010, held in Rijeka . In August 2011 he tied for 1st–2nd with Hrant Melkumyan in
247-764: The following month he won the David Bronstein Memorial in Minsk on tiebreak over Sergey Fedorchuk and Mikhailo Oleksienko . In July he finished second behind Wesley So at the ACP Golden Classic in Bergamo , Italy. In August, 2015, he took clear first place in the 19th HZ Chess Tournament in Vlissingen , the Netherlands, scoring 8/9 points (+7−0=2). In 2017 Jobava tied for first with Maxim Matlakov and Vladimir Fedoseev in
266-399: The games of certain masters, including F.J. Lee , Joseph Henry Blackburne and Akiba Rubinstein . The name London System derives from the reappearance of the opening on seven occasions in the very strong London tournament of 1922, including in games by José Raúl Capablanca , Alexander Alekhine and Akiba Rubinstein. After this tournament the opening remained rare in master practice, but
285-456: The individual gold medal in 2004 , scoring 8½/10 points. In 2010 , he defeated the world's number one player Magnus Carlsen in the Georgia–Norway match. In 2016 , he won the individual gold medal for the best first board performance, which included wins over Richard Rapport , Francisco Vallejo Pons and the former FIDE world champions Ruslan Ponomariov and Veselin Topalov with
304-526: The match against Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 2012 with a 5-3 score and has an overall (+5−1=5) record. Jobava won 4 out of the first 6 Titled Tuesday blitz events held on Chess.com and streams similar tournaments alongside casual games on Twitch to his 20,000 followers under the username "JamesBlunder". Jobava has played for the Georgian national team in the Chess Olympiad since 2000. He won
323-662: The queen's bishop to f4 on move 2 (rather than opting for 2.Nf3 and then 3.Bf4, as had previously been common). Johnsen and Kovačević note that, in the case of 2.Nf3, if play proceeds 2...c5 3.Bf4 ?! , then 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nd7 "may already be better for Black". Meanwhile, Kiril Georgiev notes in Fighting the London System that "The idea of delaying the [Nf3] development is to avoid the famous line [1.d4 d5] 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.c3 Qb6 6.Qb3 c4 7.Qc2 Bf5, when White should retreat [the queen] ingloriously to c1." White's future plans will depend upon Black's choice of set-up. Black has
342-563: Was considered by Johnsen and Kovačević to be the most critical line. A modern development named after grandmasters Richárd Rapport and Baadur Jobava , this system still has considerable surprise value. It combines Bf4 with Nc3 (this knight would usually be developed to d2 in the standard London System) creating potential threats against Black's c7. Glossary of chess#development This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess , in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin . For
361-708: Was first played by James Mason in 1882. He's one of the most prolific users of Larsen's Opening in the modern era, having beaten Yu Yangyi in the Tata Steel Challengers 2014, Daniil Dubov in the Bronstein Memorial 2014, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov in the FIDE Grand Prix 2015 and David Howell in the FIDE Grand Swiss 2019 with it. On February 3, 2023, Jobava accused GM Xu Xiangyu of cheating after losing to him during
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