Week 3: is the London System good for beginners? My 2–8 week with it

Week 3 (January 22–27, 2024) was my busiest so far and one of the worst: 43 games, 15 wins, 27 losses, 1 draw, rating 899 → 872 (-27). With White I won only 5 of 21. This was also the week I leaned on the London System, so it's a fair place to ask: is the London System good for beginners? My answer from these games: the opening part worked; I lost the games after it.

The week in numbers

Black went much better than White this week (10 wins, 11 losses, 1 draw against 5 wins and 16 losses). The longest slide was six losses in a row, games #92 to #97. Eight of my 27 losses came after the engine had given me at least an 80% winning chance at some point. And for the first time the clock showed up: 7 of my 82 blunders were played with a low clock, all at 10|5, and four of them in the long endgame of game #67.

My London System games, phase by phase

I counted every game the database labels as a London (London System, the "Indian Game" London lines and the Accelerated London): ten games, all with White, 2 wins and 8 losses. Then I split my accuracy into the opening phase (about the first twelve moves) and the middlegame:

In 7 of the 10 games my opening accuracy was above 85. In 8 of the 10 my middlegame accuracy was below 75. That's the pattern: the London's fixed setup (pawn to d4, bishop to f4, pawn to e3, knight to f3) got me to move twelve in decent shape, and then I didn't know what to do. Several losses turned on a single queen move. In game #78 I was +7.72 (evaluations are from White's side, so a big plus means White is winning) and gave a queen check on e8 that turned it into -7.37. In game #96 I took a pawn on d5 with my queen at +5.47 and the evaluation flipped to -6.88. In game #103 my queen took on f7 and the position went from roughly equal to -11.26.

So, is the London System good for beginners? For me it was a safe way out of the opening, and that's worth something. It is not a plan for the middlegame, and my week shows that's where beginners like me lose.

Three positions from the rest of the week

The engine's biggest moments this week weren't in London games, but they show the same habit from other angles.

Game #67: not simplifying when far ahead

Against grzegorz11 (1005) I had White in my other 1.d4 setup and was +4.36, a winning position, with three minutes left. I pushed my a-pawn. Stockfish wanted bishop takes knight on g6: trade a piece, keep the extra material, make the win simpler. After my pawn move the position was still clearly better (+1.94), but the game went on to move 96 and ended with me getting checkmated.

. r . . . r k .
p p . . . p p .
. . p . . . n .
. . . . . . . B
P P . P p . . P
. . P . P . P .
. . . . . . . K
R . . . . R . .

Game #68: the pawn move that opens the door to my king

With Black against kerflup (890), in a Philidor Defense, the position was close to level (+0.62). On move 4 I pushed my f-pawn to f6. On f7 that pawn blocked the diagonal from h5 to my king on e8; moving it opens that line. The engine's punishment shows up immediately: knight to h4, then queen to h5 with check, and +3.94 for White. Taking on d4 (a simple pawn trade) kept it level.

r n b q k b n r
p p p . . p p .
. . . p . . . p
. . . . p . . .
. . B P P . . .
. . . . . N . .
P P P . . P P P
R N B Q K . . R

The game ended in a draw by repetition after 24 half-moves, so I got away with it.

Game #69: missing the central pawn break

Against shivram007 (950), Black again, White had pushed a pawn to g4 and put the queen on f3 with the king still in the middle. I was clearly better (-2.65) and played my queen to e7. The engine had two strong moves at the same score: pawn to d5, attacking the bishop on c4 and opening the center, or knight to d4, attacking the pawn on c2 and the queen on f3 at the same time. After my queen move I was only slightly better (-0.50).

r . b q . r k .
p p p . . p p p
. . n p . n . .
. . b . p . . .
. . B . P . P .
P . . P . Q . P
. P P . . P . .
R N B . K . N R

I lost that one after 86 half-moves.

The lesson of the week

An opening system buys you a position, not a plan. My London games show it in numbers: good first dozen moves, poor middlegames, and losses decided by one queen move that grabbed something or gave a check without checking the reply. The practical lesson I took: after the opening, before any queen move, ask "what is my queen leaving undefended, and what can they attack after it?" And in winning positions, like game #67, trading pieces is often the simplest way to keep the win.

All games this week

← Week 2 · Week 4 → · All weeks of the journey. The phase-by-phase accuracy above came straight from the engine analysis; you can get the same breakdown for your own games.