The London System: one setup, three plans
The London System is a setup more than a list of moves: White puts the pieces on the same squares against almost every defence, then chooses a plan. Here is how to play it, piece by piece, and what Black tries against it at the club.
What the London System is
The London is a way to play 1.d4: White meets 1…d5 and 1…Nf6 with 2.Bf4, then plays e3, Nf3, c3, Bd3 and Nbd2, and castles. The order changes with Black’s moves; the setup hardly changes. Instead of long lines, you learn one setup and three plans, and the same ideas come back in every game.
It takes its name from the London tournament of 1922, and it is very popular at club level. In Lichess games between players rated 1000 to 1800, blitz, rapid and classical, October 2025 to October 2026, White answered 1.d4 d5 with 2.Bf4 in 23.1% of games, second only to the Queen’s Gambit at 31.9%. It suits club players well: the setup is quick to learn and sound against almost every defence.
The move order: Bf4 before e3
The rule of the London: the dark-squared bishop leaves c1 before the e-pawn moves. After e3, the pawn would block its road, and the bishop would stay shut in behind its own pawns. On f4 it stands outside the pawn chain, controls e5 and watches the whole b8–h2 diagonal.
The order of the other moves matters less. Many players start with 2.Nf3: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 reaches the same position as 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.Nf3. Think of the setup first and the order second.
Where each piece goes
The pawns on c3 and e3 support d4 and form a pyramid, c3–d4–e3. If Black takes on d4 after …c5, White takes back with a pawn and keeps a pawn on d4. The pieces then take their places around it:
- The king’s knight goes to f3, where it defends d4 and can jump to e5.
- The light-squared bishop goes to d3, where it aims at h7, in front of Black’s castled king.
- The queen’s knight goes to d2, not c3, where it would block the c-pawn. On d2 it supports e4 and can replace the other knight on f3.
- The king castles short, and h3 gives the f4 bishop a retreat on h2 when it needs one.
The three plans of the London
Once the pieces are out, White chooses a plan according to what Black has done:
- The attack on the king. The knight jumps to e5: in the line above, 8.Ne5 at once is as good as 8.h3. Once the bishop has stepped back to g3, the f-pawn can support the knight from f4, and the queen and rooks turn to the kingside. When no black knight on f6 defends h7, look for the Greek gift, Bxh7+ followed by Ng5+: it works when Black cannot simply take the knight on g5 and your queen can join at once.
- The e3–e4 break. Prepared by the knight on d2 and the bishop on d3, it opens the centre for White’s pieces.
- The queenside. When Black’s light-squared bishop has left c8, the b7 pawn is weak, and Qb3 attacks it.
The tactics come with the plans. Lesson 3 of our London book names the five motifs that decide London games: the pawn fork on e5, the attack on h7, the discovered attack by the e5 knight, the pin by the bishop on b5 and the trapped queen on b2. Each has its signal, such as a black bishop on d6 and a knight on f6 when Black takes on e5.
What Black plays against the London at the club
Black’s most common answer is 1…d5. In the same Lichess games between players rated 1000 to 1800, Black answered 1.d4 with 1…d5 in 49.7% of games, with 1…Nf6 in 13.9%, with 1…e6 in 9.7% and with 1…e5 in 7.7%.
For the second move, The London System in Twelve Lessons draws a map of Black’s replies from the club games behind the book. After 1…d5 2.Bf4, the most common are 2…Nc6, 2…Nf6 and 2…e6, then the early bishop, 2…Bf5. After 1…Nf6 2.Bf4, they are 2…e6, 2…g6, 2…d5 and 2…d6. The setup stays the same against all of them; only the details change, and lessons 4 to 10 of the book cover them.
Two first moves call for something else. Against 1…c5, play 2.d5: after 2.Bf4? cxd4, Black is already slightly better. Against 1…e5, take the pawn with 2.dxe5, because 2.Bf4?? loses the bishop to 2…exf4. As 1…e5 is Black’s fourth most common answer to 1.d4 at this level, that one is worth remembering.
After 3.e3, until Nf3 closes it, your queen sees the whole d1–h5 diagonal. A black piece left unprotected on g4 or h5 is lost: 3…Nh5?? 4.Qxh5.
That is the first of our three London System traps. The other two also win material before move ten, and each comes with the signal that announces it.
How to start playing the London System
Learn the setup and the reason for each move before any line. Then:
- Set up the position after 8.h3 on a board and say, for each piece, why it stands there.
- Play the London in your next ten games, whatever the result.
- After each game, find the move where you left the setup, and ask whether Black forced you to.
- Learn the traps from both sides: the ones that win material for White and the ones that catch the London player.
- Train the tactics that decide London games, the fork, the pin and the discovered attack, with puzzles from real games such as 300 Chess Puzzles.
The first three lessons of The London System in Twelve Lessons are free in our Lichess study, with three traps and six exercises: a fair way to try the method. The book then takes Black’s replies one by one, with model games, thirty exercises from real games and your repertoire on one page. If you are still choosing an opening, read how to choose an opening as a club player.