Opening Traps Against the London System

The London System is an opening where White has pretty much determined the moves in advance, particularly if Black allows this.

White plans to develop the dark squared bishop to f4, the knights on f3 and d2 and have a rock-solid pawn chain with d4, e3 and c3.

A typical London setup

Strictly speaking, this should not be super dangerous for Black but on the other hand White normally gets a very safe position.

Playing as Black and trying to win very often becomes a challenge. Nonetheless, I want to show you some very interesting ways to create early complications, where you can aim for an advantage.

 If you’re wondering if these traps can work, let me prove it with a real example!

I recently played a game against GM Max Illingworth, a former Australian Chess Champion and a fantastic player.

In our game I played one of the 4 traps that I suggest. Although he did not go for the expected move 11.f4 he tried 11.Qh5 and I managed to win a pawn and trap his queen a few moves later.

You can see the full game here: https://www.chess.com/game/live/115615118699

In my lesson I cover 4 traps. 2 of them are fairly sound to play where the other 2 involve more risks and I suggest that you only try them occasionally.

If you want to learn and implement these traps, plus understand the main opening ideas behind them, check them out here: https://youtu.be/51SQBS6Xvec