Is The London System Unstoppable?

hello everyone and welcome to another very nice game from round four of the united states chess championship yesterday was a rest day so we have time to check up on a few more games and this one is uh very very interesting because it features not only a really enjoyable end game but also the london system and i know how much everyone has a problem facing the london system so here we can see uh how uh well just one uh one of the approaches that one could take in handling the london system so without further ado let's check it out sam shanklin versus lanier dominguez perez uh sam with the white pieces opens with d4 uh we have d5 by perez knight to f3 knight to f6 and now bishop to f4 going for the london system we have e6 e3 and now uh striking in the center with c5 so here we have c3 defending the center and the bishop to d6 now going after this bishop and this is a very standard line if you don't uh you know try anything crazy and the one that should arise fairly often and the most commonly played idea here is just retreating the bishop to g3 because if black captures you do not mind opening up the h file for your rook also knight to e5 is a a well-known idea but here we have bishop to b5 check this is how shankland wants to deal with this knight to c6 and the immediate captures with check so b captures on c6 bishop captures on d6 queen captures and now queen to a4 so two early traits and now uh a nice developing move by the queen putting pressure on this c6 pawn so here black just castles and now uh this is uh actually a well-known position it was um uh reached this year in new in chess classic between lebon ariana and wesley so levon played queen to a3 uh sort of pinning this pawn because the queen on d6 is undefended and lavon was able to win this game against wesley so but here we have knight beat to d2 and it is now as of move 10 that we have a completely new game so let's see how uh black deals with this we have c captures on d4 as the queen a3 was not played we should get rid of this double pawn right away c captures and denounce c5 getting rid rid of our weak c6 pawn as well we have castles by white and now uh you could advance the pawn all the way to c4 but that's uh considered sort of anti-positional uh even though nowadays uh you know with super strong modern engines anti-positional moves are being played all the time but maybe it's a bit unpleasant you could later undermine the pawn with some like ee4 or b3 of course the rooks will come to the c file and maybe it's going to be a little weak for black but of course it can be played but here we have queen to a6 uh offering a queen trade white's queen is a bit more active so we really want to trade our uh queens and get our bishop into the game and also uh black uh white has two knights and we have a bishop and the knight so we we are interested in getting rid of the queens and even the rooks because we have uh sort of a bishop against a knight advantage uh the the game is uh on both sides of the board so the bishop will do very nicely here so if you move the queen then black has a very natural developing moves you can bring the rook to b8 you can move the bishop bring the other rook to c8 so here white trait we have bishop captures and rook f to c1 now putting pressure on this pawn here so black traits c captures knight captures of course you do not want to mess up your pawn structure and now rook 8 to b8 you're not worried about rook to c7 as the b-21 is hanging so first b3 and only now rook f the c8 and now we've pretty much developed all of our pieces and we asked black what do you want to do here and it definitely makes sense to get rid of all the rooks from the board as like we already mentioned we have the advantage of bishop against tonight it's a it's a fairly open position and the game is on both sides of the board so that's what we want to do we have knight two to f3 white improves the position of the knight maybe coming to e5 and now king to f8 it's very important to uh activate our king in the end game and this is what dominguez paris is going for also one thing we have to consider here is that uh if everything disappears off the board white has this two to one advantage on the queen side white has two points black has one so it's very very easy for white to create a pass pawn on the queen side and that could be a problem if our king is stuck on h8 for example we're not going to be able to stop the past pawn so the white's only plan here would be to trade off all the pieces and start pushing pawns so we have to activate our king we have knights to e5 and now king to e8 further activating the king we have f4 and now knight to e4 so an excellent square for the knight it can't really be kicked away from there we have a4 uh this knight also can be kicked away from d4 it's on a dark square black has a light square bishop so it's gonna defend this pawn for uh you know as long as we want but now black says all right it's time to get the rooks off the board rook captures rook captures and simply rook the c8 we have rook capture sun c8 you could also avoid this you could play rook to b1 uh there are uh maybe uh you know uh positive sights the the trading rooks but uh it it would be considered i guess better not to trade the rooks uh like we said the the bishop should be stronger than a knight here but okay we have rook captures bishop captures it's uh materialistically it's a completely even equal position and like we said white has a two to one advantage so white doesn't worry about uh such things we have b4 and now f6 getting rid of the knight from such a wonderful square knight eat the c6 going after the pawn and now a6 and now you could go with b5 and create a pass pawn right away but first knight to a7 we go after the bishop here it's sort of a little trick because if the king defends we can simply pick it up and then win the e6 pawn which is of course very good for white so instead bishop to d7 and now we're going to get our king into the game and only now shankland executes b5 and this will create a pass pawn so a counters a captures now the uh b b pawn is very strong of course we have to do everything we can to stop it uh king the d8 b6 um the king is locked out of uh going after the pawn so maybe not something to do and the pawn is on the dark square so we're not going to be able to challenge it with a light square bishop so here we have king the e7 now the bishop can move the king also guards the e6 pawn and now b6 we have knight to c5 and knight eight to c6 with check asking black do you want to give up your your bishop for the knight and here it's actually perfectly fine because this spawn is now too far advanced it's not going to be easy to defend it and now uh dominguez perez just captures it we have captures captures with czech king to d6 and now knight to d4 making sure uh that you can't really reach the pawn as the knight and upon cover c6 and c7 but e5 will dislodge this knight but first we have to take care of our own pawn if we play e5 right away knight f5 check picks up the g7 pawn so first we have to tend to that so g6 is played taking away the f5 square from the knight and now we have king to f2 now shankland also starts improving the position of the king uh but see how uh you know when we started discussing the same game white had a two to one advantage on the queenside end he had a bishop against tonight which was kind of better as the game was on both sides of the board but now the material is completely equal both players have a knight and uh perez has a much more active king so here e5 chases away the knight we have captures captures and now knight to f3 still you can't really move the king because the e5 pawn will fall and e4 is a bit dangerous because the the pawns are much stronger when they're like this they control all of these squares because now for example knight g5 goes after the pawn h5 we're going to play knight f7 check and now you still can't go after the pawn if you go after the pawn we can just play 95 check and win this pawn for example so after knight f3 we have knight to d7 the pawns are better left like this now the knight defends this pawn and we're gonna go after this pawn with our king so knight g5 goes after h5 h5 is played knight f7 check king the e7 now not going after the pawn king e7 we kick away the knight and then the knight will capture on b6 so knight g5 and now finally knight captures on b6 so after all is said and done black is now up upon and uh both players still have a knight so can black push this for a win well if so he has to play very very precisely and the white has to make a little at least uh you know a few mistakes here and there so here we have e uh white plays e4 now tries to eliminate as many pawns as possible or if black pushes d4 then you're gonna give the white king some squares to maybe use uh to try and activate um uh in in the position but here uh when there are no pieces on the board we're only playing a king and pawn in game you want eliminate as many pawns as possible because uh well your advantage will be greater and of course we know that unless it's some sort of a wicked position an extra pawn will be winning however when there's a knight on the board you do not want to trade as many pawns as possible because uh well let's say we trade all the pawns you're left with one pawn your opponent has zero pawns and your opponent just uh gives up his knight for a pawn and it's a draw by insufficient material so of course we don't want to do that we we played d4 and now king e2 now shanklin will start improving the position of his king uh knights to d7 so the pawn is protected now the black king will also be activating king to d3 first knight c5 check king c4 and now knight to e6 so what do you do here uh well the problem is of course trading knights is not an option the king and pawn end game is completely winning we have knight back to f3 so putting pressure on the e5 pawn and the king to d6 now uh winning some squares for the black king we have g3 and now uh of course we have g5 that's how we make progress here we have h4 and now the same principle applies you have a a a knight each on the board you do not want to over trade the pawn so just g4 let's keep the pawns on the board we want to trade nights here not pawns knights to d2 and now knight to c5 putting pressure on this pawn so the knight can't really move king to b sorry not king to b4 king to b5 and now knight to d3 so now we're interested in going after this spawn we're going to require a few moves like knight f2 knight h1n8 captures on g3 but white can always prevent this with a simple knight to f1 and guards this spawn so how can the black king make progress here without the black king being even more active you will not be able to win this game so let's see how perez does it we have king to c4 and now knight to f2 we have king to b4 shanklin is very happy just moving the king left and right uh keeping the black king at bay uh so king the d7 we have king to c4 and now knight to h1 going after the pawn so knight to f1 only option here and now comes king to c6 gaining the opposition on the white king king to b4 now king to b6 and now king to c4 and here comes the the idea king the a5 now the problem is you can't really keep the the black king uh constantly locked out because uh the c3 square is controlled by black so you're not going to be able to to use this square for example if king b3 we can play king b5 you don't have king c3 so you're gonna have to let the the black king in king c2 king c4 uh and so on black king will continue making progress so here we have king to d5 saying okay i can grab this pawn this pawn will be captured by the knight if it goes anywhere any further and maybe i can even reach those pawns on the king's side but there is a problem because now the position is completely winning for black you have to use both strategy and tactics to solve this one feel free to pause the video and win the game for dominguez perez while i give you a couple of seconds [Music] so for those of you who are able to do it congratulations on spotting these two pawns that they are too strong for the knights to stop them on its own and for those of you who just want to enjoy the show of course it's knight captures on g3 that's the good stuff and the problem is of course if the knight is captured just d3 you can't stop both both of the pawns knight f1 we're going to play g3 now you either capture this pawn or we're going to push this pawn and then promote this pawn or we just push this pawn so it doesn't really matter the two pawns are unstoppable knight captures d2 there's no stopping this pawn from queening so here shankland tried knight to d2 he said all right i'm not going to capture the pawn but now i'm down two points of course this is now completely lost king to b4 and now comes knight to c4 we have king to c3 and he was in this position on move 55 that sam shanklin resigned the game as there is nothing more to be done here everything is nicely protected uh you can't really do anything if you move the king you're going to lose the knight if the knight moves you don't really care for example knight to a3 we're just gonna move our own knight and then promote this pawn to a queen so absolutely everything is winning here so yeah after king to c3 and move 55 shanklin resigned in the game and a wonderful victory for uh linear dominguez paris uh in this uh against the london system so uh the london system is uh you know uh spoken of uh very often in in the chess world some say it's a garbage some say it's a great opening many people use it i often mention how how magnus defeated vladimir kramnik with the london system in the world rapid championship or maybe it was the world blitz championship can't really remember yeah i think it was blitz so uh you know it's a strong opening but there are ways to you know stop it or maybe even just slow it down uh so there you have it if you have problems with the london system you are welcome to use this or you are welcome to check out the the video that i made how to counter the london system might also come useful if you if you enjoy such lines so that's the game i hope you guys enjoyed it we're going to continue of course uh with the coverage of the usgs championship uh i would like to thank olga the dinosaur david kimura ravindra yoga be maltapa miranda for a contribution to my channel thank you a lot to really appreciate it as usual you can check to my previous videos here thank you for watching and i will see you soon continuing the coverage of this wonderful event checking up on your wonderful suggestions and whatever else happens in the chess world thank you all i will see you soon and have an excellent start of your week

Channel: agadmator's Chess Channel

Views: 296,299

Keywords: agadmator, chess, best chess channel, best youtube chess channel, youtube chess, magnus miniature, carlsen miniature, carlsen brilliant, carlsen best game, carlsen agadmator, london, london system

Id: gPJibSgeFew

Length: 14min 35sec (875 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 11 2021