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📥 Download the PGN of this London System vs King’s Indian Defense opening variation from this blog-post –
🔹 The London System: Essential Theory, TRAPS to Win Fast –
In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov shows you a winning chess opening for White against the King’s Indian Defense or the Pirc Defense setup where Black fianchettoes the kingside bishop, playing g6 and Bg7. More specifically, you will learn how to play the London System against the King’s Indian Defense setup after the opening moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6.
One of the main advantages of Black playing the King’s Indian Defense setup is that they have a strong control over the e5 square with the support of their d6-pawn and the bishop on g7. In fact, it almost takes over the control of the e5-square from White when they Black pushes their pawn to e5 themselves. This gives Black a rock-solid position against White’s London System.
But this opening variation will give you an easy and powerful attack on the kingside. Best of all, Black’s most played and natural moves are losing (Black gets a losing position in just 5 moves) and it works even against stronger opponents. Moreover, this setup also works with 1.e4 when Black plays the Pirc Defense with 1…d6 and fianchetto their kiingside bishop.
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► Chapters
00:00 Winning Chess Opening for White After 1.d4
00:12 London System vs King’s Indian Defense Setup
01:29 Switching White’s plan with 3.Nc3
03:00 Simple & Powerful Kingside Attack
05:45 Proof: Black loses in most played moves
07:33 If Black plays Nc6 instead of Nbd7
08:45 Works also with 1.e4 against Pirc Defense
09:51 If Black tries to attack on the queenside
12:29 Backup attacking idea for White
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After Bh6, the black Bishop isn't actually pinned to the Rook, because Bxe5, if Bxf1, then Bf4 is protected by the Knight on h5 and the Queen is pinned. So you lose a pawn and a Queen for the Rook.
There is such a better kings Indian defense killer than this
I play the Black Lion against the London.
12:21 what if they actually took with the f pawn
4:38 this is not true actually. black can move bishop to capture pawn on e5. if white uses the bishop on h6 to take the rook on f8, then black moves bishop from e5 to f4 winning whites queen….you absolutely have to mention such a strong counter to be aware of
It transposes into the Jobava-Rapport-London.
Best gems around. You really do find some teasure!
Sheesh
Crushing such an awesome defense with the power of the so-called London system is just amazing. Thanks GM Igor. Always loved your content
You should call it the jobava London… Coz that's what it seems like
How to respond to black, if instead of a pawn on d6 he moves the pawn on d5? Thank you.
Enjoyed this video. Instructive
I love your teaching. You are so prepared, so ingenuous, so enlightening; I hope you the best, too.
After 6. O-O-O, what's to stop Black from playing 6. … Bh8 or 6. Re8? Either move would seem to render Bh6 ineffective, since Black can avoid exchanging off the bishop. White can avoid this, though, by playing 6. Bh6 immediately, so why not do that? Same goes for a lot of similar positions arising from various openings (not only the KID and Pirc/Modern but also the Sicilian).
This is the Jobava London, can advise this to anyone. GM Simon Williams has a great course on it on Chessable..
I love how "most people wont play this move" is only applicable on elo 1k+, on elo 800s, most people play that move lol
Then d5 is the move making white knight embarrassed!
Know when to change when white changes black is also allowed to change.
Grandmaster Smirnov confuses the King's Indian Defence with the Pirc Defence?! Let me explain to him that the King's Indian Defence can only arise if White plays c2-c4 🙂
How can i use this opening if i start with 1. Nf3? It is my biggest dilemma in all the chess courses i saw against KID
Just what I needed. Well explained.
Thanks!
Valuable information. Thanks
One of the best video I've ever seen
This is awesome! I know if the first few moves but I always rushed to trade bishops! More I know to let it sit having their bishop so I can push pawns to pressure their Knight
12:12 What do you do if they don’t recapture but instead play Rh8? I can’t figure out a winning sequence from there.
Fantastic video btw. I’ve crushed 2 kings Indians this week because of it. Very easy to learn if you play the London. And you’re absolutely right, KI/Pirc players make their opening moves automatically so often.
I've had a lot of success with this opening! But sometimes they start attacking me faster than I can attack them
awesome breakdown! I GOTTA TRY THIS!
Bullet and blitz games shouldn't be part of statistics. Just my opinion.
I lost four rapid games using the London system vs King's Indian yesterday so googling and finding this was a huge lifesaver! Thank you!
Fantastic video…mantapppp
@ 5:01 instead of e6 what if black plays bishop x b5..If white replies Bishop x f8…Black plays Bishop f4 pinning queen to king and white queen is gone..
All time favorite
I've really enjoyed being a 1.d4 player so far in my time learning chess. I find the London and Queen's Gambit openings to be great fun.
a good kings indian player will wait for you to castle before castling. also theyll protect that e5 with the knight before the bishop comes out. either way youll end up with 2 points up with less development or if u dont castle youll end up with 2 points up without the ability to castle and less development. either or a fairly equal position
Thank you 🙏🏻
This is fantastic. As a new chess player I've been so frustrated when facing the kings Indian and the large majority of my losses are vs the kings Indian. This gives me hope! Thank you so much!
Great video! I appreciate you showing the ideas and not just the moves. Stockfish is good at recommending moves but horrible about giving ideas. One thing I find is that black plays d5 a lot against 3. Nc3. I see that that weakens the e5 square and makes Black's e5 push difficult, but I'd still enjoy a video on this line.
Hey Igor, do you have also a video about to fight agaist the czech variation of the pirc defence? similar to this kings indian style I see more and more often black playing c6 and then involving the queen over Qa5 or Qc7… so the pin on the d-file won't work, do you think your attack would work anyways?
NOOO!!! Kings Indian is the opening I JUST learned as a beginner….. And now it is destoryedd…. 😭
So do I learn the London system now?
I kept losing to the KIA but with this video i now have a higher win rate against the Kings Indian Defence
around 1400, I always see d5 instead of d6, and while the engine shows variations, it's incredibly hard to continue from here imo. after long castle, black seem to have a lot easier attacking your king, than you do.
i play the London and this is another good vid by Igor…luv your videos!!
Historically accurate
Watching this cause I always play kings Indian😂
I play in the 1800-1900 range and I come across people playing this opening as white against my KID. I was so frustrated by losing to this every single time that I went and looked it up online and arrived here. I still have no idea how like 80% of players seem to know this opening. Where are they learning it from? Are they just blindly queenside castling or is it actually memorized from somewhere?
12.16 and what about fg instead hg,the position is unclear
The position at 4:56 doesn't look scary at all tbh. White has a pawn hanging on e5. Black should move pawn b6, to prepare fianchetto of the other bishop. Let white trade the g7 bishop and safely recapture with the king.
Then black bishop to b7. The queen is no longer hanging (because its defended by both rooks) so you pick up the hanging pawn with your knight, and you threaten devastation on h1 if white is silly enough to push the g pawn.
All of those are natural moves and not obscure to find.
What am I missing here?
GM Igor Smirnov gave me the best advice in chess. 'How can I attack?' 'Always push forward'. 'Offence is the best defence'. I'm still grinding on this fuel ⛽
How do you proceed if opponent plays ph6 after your qd2? That move seems to counter the whole idea