Winning Chess Opening: London System vs King's Indian Defense

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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

#GMSmirnov #LondonSystem #ChessOpenings

[GMIgorSmirnov]

► 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

[paularized]

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.

[TylerG]

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.

[That_Guy_You_Know]

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!

[christremayne]

I'm 1670, I was playing someone who's 2100, I knew he liked the KID, so I took these themes on board. I was +0.9 coming out of the opening. But miscalculated needed to protect a pawn and struggled to push h4-h5 in the middle game. I lost, but chatting after he said I had him worried. So I'll be checking out your other videos.

[michaelstowbridge]

I love your teaching. You are so prepared, so ingenuous, so enlightening; I hope you the best, too.

[deepabaurai]

Watching this cause I always play kings Indian😂

[ZSonnenblick]

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

[AlexSinclair]

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!

[budisantotanoto]

Thank you GM Smirnov!
I've got a question at 12:14, instead of hxg6 what if Black plays fxg6 ?

[noodisoffline]

There is always way out as we slightly changed the move orders of london black can change as well

[ericfleet]

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.

[garbarrage]

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.

[sabrinaPP]

The best thing about this video is the sleeping cat at the back.

[levicook]

Most of my london system losses are against kings indian... I got so frustrated I finally looked it up on youtube to learn how to fight it.

[Wryyyyyyyyy]

One thing i learn from IM Alwx Banzea is thatBlack can counter by delaying castle and going for h5 every time you see Qd2. It neutralise white plan. And go for c5 break. If you look at the position its kinda similar to Saemich variations. And Black can either delay or put their night on a6. Kinda weird but its still the theory for middlegame.

[AlwaysDizzy]

Great video. One issue I find with Bf4 though is that it can't be transposed into from the Modern (1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6) without giving up objective evaluation (4. Bf4 isn't in the top 10 in s16, and transpositions from moves like f3 don't work). I prefer to be able to transpose into the same setup against both the Pirc and Modern as it means less theory for me to learn and memorize.

[TruthSurge]

4:50 just capture free pawn with black bishop then retreat again then make better moves in the future!

[fazzolarijames]

Do you have a video covering the London versus Grunfeld (1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 g6 3 Nc3)? Thanks in advance.

[texasAUtiger]

This is the best chess youtube channel. Always delivers!