What is Chess Opening Repertoire: The London System about?
Chess Opening Repertoire: The London System, authored by IM Cyrus Lakdawala (published by Popular Chess), presents a complete White repertoire in the London System built on the pure 2.Bf4 move order, playable against any Black setup. Across 12 chapters and 382 pages it covers every major defensive scheme, from the Classical lines with …d5 and …e6 through the King’s Indian, Grünfeld, Benoni and Dutch, using a question-and-answer method that continually tests the reader’s understanding. It is written for intermediate players who want an understanding-based system rather than a memorization-heavy one.
Review: Chess Opening Repertoire: The London System by Cyrus Lakdawala
– GM Lajos Portisch.
Modern opening theory resembles an arms race. A top player plays a strong novelty for White or Black in a fashionable opening. In these days of virtually instant communications, everyone knows about it quickly and they fire up their chess engines to discover an antidote, and this task is usually successful. So, the new move is neutralised, and the cycle begins again. While such an approach to openings is acceptable for professional players, amateurs do not have the resources or skills to keep up with the rapid changes in opening theory.
The book’s core pitch. The London is presented as an understanding-based system: similar structures across the lines, low memorization load, and few of the sharp forcing sequences where engine preparation ambushes you. Lakdawala’s stated goal is comprehension over recall, and the question-and-answer format serves exactly that.
Amateurs mostly need to just get out of the opening alive and with a reasonable position, as the great Hungarian champion noted in the opening quote above.
Hence, playing an opening with clearly defined ideas, and one that is not constantly changing is therefore a sound strategy for amateurs. The London System is an example of such an opening, although it has attracted the attention of elite players in recent years and its theory has expanded.
What’s Inside – Forward Chess Ebook
12 chapters plus indexes of variations and complete games · 382 pages
| 1. Classical System with …d5 and …e6 | p. 9 |
| 2. Classical “Ruy Lopez” Version | p. 55 |
| 3. Exchange Variations | p. 90 |
| 4. Lines with …d5 where Black Delays …e6 | p. 125 |
| 5. Symmetrical Lines | p. 171 |
| 6. London versus Queen’s Indian | p. 199 |
| 7. Benoni Poisoned Pawn Lines | p. 232 |
| 8. London versus Grünfeld | p. 249 |
| 9. London versus Reversed Reti Set-ups | p. 279 |
| 10. London versus King’s Indian | p. 309 |
| 11. London versus Modern Defence | p. 341 |
| 12. London versus Dutch | p. 351 |
The current book by the prolific author IM Cyrus Lakdawala is a guide to the London System that is targeted to club players, and it is the third book he has written on the opening. As the Table of Contents above shows, Lakdawala is aiming to provide a complete system against most moves after 1.d4. The author explains his choices of variations and move orders as follows.
“One goal of this book is to get past the London’s deceptive sameness and begin to understand its vast subtleties. In this book I’m recommending the more ‘pure’ 2.Bf4 London move order, rather than the more obsolete 2.Nf3 and 3.Bf4, which I advocated in Play the London System and First Steps: Colle/London Systems.”
A note on the move order. This repertoire is built on the pure 2.Bf4, which Lakdawala calls the modern main road. It updates his own earlier books Play the London System and First Steps: Colle/London Systems, both of which advocated the older 2.Nf3 and 3.Bf4 sequence.
He also notes an advantage of the London System over other options as follows.
“The chess engine is a curious mix of science fiction and science non-fiction, since it is a case of the future within the present. The London, with the exception of a few lines, is still one of the most engine ambush-immune lines in chess. Even if we get surprised by our opponent’s engine analysis, we can usually work our way through, since there are so few purely tactical lines in the London.”
As expected, Lakdawala has made extensive use of chess engines when checking the recommended lines. However, he cautions that what is good for the engine is not necessarily good for a human player. So even when the engine may call a position equal, there is generally play left for a human player. A strength of the book is that the author doesn’t oversell the opening.
He is also realistic enough to not recommend that the London should always be played, irrespective of what Black does. He writes:
“I’m not going to lie to you. The Queen’s Indian set-up is one of Black’s most solid paths against the London and in many cases it’s miserably difficult to beat.”
“In Play the London System, a few critics mentioned there was no London versus Modern Defence chapter. That was deliberate on my part since against the Modern, we get a London, the way Taco Bell is ‘Mexican food’! White gets an inferior version against the Modern move order and I urge readers to play something other than London.”
The book uses the illustrative games approach to presenting the theory, together with exercises in the games. There are 74 games in the book, with many by the author and his students. Readers should be aware of the author’s distinctive annotation style, including many cultural references, jokes and sometimes over-the-top comments. Despite this idiosyncrasy, Lakdawala manages to get his points across and explain what is going on in the games.
A note on the style. Lakdawala’s prose is unmistakable: anecdotes, digressions and running jokes sit alongside the analysis. Readers who enjoy his voice will find the book a pleasure; readers who prefer their theory dry should know what they are signing up for. The chess content underneath is concrete either way.
Two examples from the book are given below, with annotations from the book.
In conclusion, this is a good introduction to the London System for club players. The range of good illustrative games, exercises to check your understanding and extensive coverage of Black’s options against 1.d4 make this a solid opening repertoire for club players. The repertoire can last for many years, provided readers do some updating to keep up with the latest developments in the opening.
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