Hi all. I have another amazing and interesting game to show you from the
"your next move" blitz so played in Leuven in Belgium very recently
first of July 2017 Magnus Carlsen playing against Wesley So we see d4 d5
and already the game for me is interesting Magnus continues this trend
of playing Bishop f4 you might wonder if he wants a London system why doesn't he
just play Knight f3 don't most normal play people that in Livebook he's
confounding Livebook because Knight f3 does it have a downside and technically
from the evidence this game I believe this game shows it does have a downside
compared to Bishop f4 it's less flexible it's actually interrupted the d1 to h5
diagonal to play Knight f3 this way of getting into London system may in the
future or even now be regarded as an early version of the London system move
order so let me show you some evidence why with with the evidence of this game
why would this be a downside interrupting that diagonal? Well let's
see. With Bishop f4 that Bishop is often a target later for black and sometimes
black might even want to use some pawns to kick the bishop the bishop is on a
dark square so if black later kicks the bishop black is weakening light squares
just bear that in mind so sometimes we want to keep control of
light squares as a result of the bishop being kicked c5 and we have London
system without the Knight f3 emerging not yet Nf3 this diagonals being kept
free so we have Nc6 c3 Qb6 so yeah it's a London
system without Nf3 Qb3 black shouldn't really doesn't really
tend to take care because of the dynamic dynamic play white gets on the a file
they play f6 white plays Nd2 again delaying Knight f3 this diagonals being
kept clear basically c4 this is this looks very
very typical on the system moves Queen c2 Nh5 now that is hitting the bishop
it's actually on a light square and guess what? Because we've kept this
diagonal clear we can kick this night with Bishop e2 of tempo if the knight
was on f3 we wouldn't be able to. Why is that important
isn't it's just trivia what I'm saying here is just pure trivia h6 weakening
light squares Bishop h4 g5 weakening more light squares but here's the kicker
what doesn't have to play Bishop g3 here - he hasn't played Nf3 - the facility
which has been maintained from the start is this diagonal so guess what Magnus
Carlsen plays in this position with a slight advantage technically if I give
you five seconds bishop e2 - yes we haven't played Nf3 we can play Bishop
e2 the Knights crawling back instead of taking on g4 it's crawling back into a
fianchetto position yes it does support Bishop f5 but this Bishop is now the
painful London system Bishop has not been swapped off with Nh5 takes g3 in
many variations of the London system of Knight f3 this bishops is a gonner
basically here it's on the board it's hitting that hard that diagonal blacks
committed to this pawn structure so the thematic thing to do is blow the pawn
structure of e4 or later b3 - for the moment yes Black has got a temporary
grip grip on e4 it seems and kicks queen with tempo but White has got his
ideal bishops they're ready for action after e6 now Ngf3 this
Knights over there this Bishop is safely installed on g3 basically Queen a5
and now we can hit the pawn center hard especially after this move Queen a5
this might not have been the greatest move it walks straight into e4 white
wants to play this thematic move anyway so it has kind of made this thematic move
even stronger let's have a quick look what should have black played in this
position it just seems of it anti thematic - maybe black should have
actually tried does this work there's Bishop e5 so this Bishop might
actually be going off the board but even here now in this position that's Nh4 so
it's not a clear-cut case of of going for Bishop g3 still - this is a
slight advantage for white. If Ng7 we take on f6 - no not take on f6 - that hangs the knight
- take on f5 first because
that's better for white okay so yeah maybe a move like Bishop e7 but this
move looks like anti thematic it's like saying okay I do automatic moves I'm
just going to make them even more effective so e4 - totally thematic
move try and blow black's pawn Center Bishop h7 yes it seems as though black's
done sensible things in a way but in a way he hasn't structurally this is prone
to damage after exd5 the exploitable base of the pawn chain is being brought
forward so any Bishop f3 later it's going to be hard hitting for black on d5 it
seems as though blacks got active pieces - everything by the book of some sort it
seems but White has basically got a very very good version of the London system
with this fantastic Bishop and the ability to just mine this pawn Center at
leisure white castles we have rook e1 black castles
now a fascinating move as well actually Ne5 basically vacating f3 for the
bishop so White wants to hit this pawn chain hard at d5 Knight takes Bishop
takes f6 weakening even some more like squares bishop g3 but White is ready for
taking on d5 and Bishop f3 now pretty soon
h4 b5 before b4 happens which could be advantageous for black to do
we have b4 from white and there's another point of the pawn chain it's not
just d5 but b5 that's hit. If black goes passive then Bishop f3 is very nice when
it's just getting his dream position but black plays a5 though here a5 a takes a
takes rook takes and now e takes we're finally going to get in this Bishop f3
with immediate venom of knight takes c4 it seems this this looks like an
immediate threat now in a position Nxc4 - the Queen really hasn't been
helping this thematic with the thematic ideas
Knight takes c4 is the key threat here Queen d8
so the Queen is struggling to hold on to d5 basically this is the outcome these
bishops are raking bishops b6 trying to distract the Queen away to blow this
pawn chain to smithereens if Queen takes b6 then Bishop takes d5 and that drops
he takes and this is exactly what happens now because there is a threat
because of this wonderful Bishop maintains through the move order then it
wasn't taken off there was now the threat of b7 and b8 queening so that has to be
addressed so black is now a pawn down with a miserable position his center
gone vanished Ne3 we have Rd8 Queen c7 now threatening Nxc4
and Qxe7 - Black is on the defensive that Bishop is maintained
even at this point in the game and goes back to h2 now that knight is not having
this bishop even though the king is like has less air White would rather have this position
keeping that bishop along that beautiful diagonal now we have the move Knight f4
for blunting the bishop and the cost of pawn structure though if the rook did
persisting going back say to d8 Bishop f3 this is just hitting there and then say
Nd5 White is much much better here in fact look looks for bad for many things so
yeah White has got all the positional trump cards after Nf4
the structure is totally wrecked after takes knight c4 threatening Bishop e6
skewering Queen f5 pinning so Bishop e6 ruled out or is it ? The Knights holding a
five let's have a quick look here Queen a7 was played I think just taking gets
out of it anyway this is just actually this is just not good Bishop b4
blacks equalized here so we have Queen a7 keeping the pressure and in fact that
Bishop can't well because pressure along the whole
seventh rank care if the bishop did move to b4 - I believe there's
something nasty here with the bishop on h7 in the form of Bishop b4 but let's
just check this this position the Bishop b4 was Queen f7 even nastier - yeah so
there's various points of attack these three points of attack along the seventh
so we have Queen takes d5 was played Queen takes e7 check but now Nb6 forking
queen and rook and that's it
so if there's one secret of this game hidden secret nuance which maybe not be
appreciated by all the London system players worldwide from this game example
is the question that you might never have asked - is have you been playing Knight f3
to achieve London system set up too routinely? Did you notice that sometimes
this diagonal is useful to keep clear because you don't want a pesky knight
taking off your dark square Bishop. You want that dark squared Bishop to be a total
pain throughout most of the game so from the outset to be able to maintain the
painful Bishop this move order with Bishop f4 delaying Knight f3 is
interesting to consider. Comments questions likes appreciated and
especially from London system players if what I've said makes any sense or rings
true let me know. Thanks very much. And remember to check out www.chessworld.net :)