Good reply for black to the London System

Does anyone have any good ideas how black can combat the London system ?

A Good King's Indian can be difficult - also a sideline Dutch - the lennigrad - the London goes into the teeth of it - when I am black playing against the London I use the Leningrad - its a lesser known opening that gives great attacks on many d4 openings 

The modern, kings indian and others of a similar nature are all very effective against it.

However, as white I play the london system against 1..d5 and 1..e6, diverging into other openings if they play say 1..nf6 (toward a KID possibly) or 1..g6 (modern) or 1..f5 (dutch)

imo of these the modern is the most difficult to meet, the best reply imo to the modern outside of entering a queens gambit and playing mainlines benoni/KID/grunfeld is 2.e4 and entering the 150 attack.

The 150 attack, especially against the modern isnt nearly as annoying to play against as the second move alternatives that I and many other d4 sideline players use, ex/ against 1..nf6 and 1..f5 I play 2.Bg5 which can be annoying for black and often even get white a slight advantage in positions he will be more familiar with, so to avoid having to deal with this move and other annoying moves I recommend the modern.

Of course on the flip side the modern can lead to a hugely diverse number and type of positions which take much time to become accustomed to, also if your opponent does decide to grab a large centre rather than the london setup it can be quite uncomfortable for a player new to the modern.

So if you intend on using it as a one time weapon against someone you know plays london, it may not be the best choice, though on the flipside if you intend to use it as your main against 1.d4 and even maybe 1.e4 and 1.c4 it is an excellent choice imo.

Of course you could also play 1.d4 1..d5, followed by 2.nf3/bf4 2...c5!. For 2.nf3 plyers this move is quite annoying as they dont want to play 3.e3 and block in their DSB, and for 2.bf4 players the best move is 3.e4 imo, which many london players wouldn't play, as many hide their tactical weakness/laziness behind the systematic play of the london and will be too afraid/unknowledgeable to do so.

I was a Londoner - when I first started and really liked the solid positional play - It took a lot of 1500's off guard and even caught a 1900 sleeping (when I lost on time) - now I am looking at the Reti - still a positional opening but much more dynamic and fun - I would reccomend the London for anyone under 1700 for a solid opening - people who are 1200 trying to master the Queens Gambit are in for a TON of theory and might turn people off from chess - which is FUN 

Recently I played a nice game using the Modern against the London. I eventually lost due to a terrible blunder, but I think the setup works quite well:

Your system looks fine to me...

One has to wonder why White wasted time with 4.h3 when Black hadn't developed his g1-knight and then answered 8..h6 with 9.Bh4 making the pawn on h3 less then useless.

@blake: Yes, 6. Bg5 looks inconsistent, one would expect Bh2 instead.

The London system starts with 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4, and not 1.d4 anything 2.Nf3 anything 3.Bf4, so some posts here are off-topic.

The setup with Bf4 is pretty lame if Black can still play d6.

no, the london system is the setup with d4 bf4 nf3 e3, followed usually by bd3 0-0 c6 nbd2.

This is literally why its called a 'system', because it can be used against basically any black reply.

The first line doesn't require much prepration by Black, but for us mortals venturing into the second line (The Morris Gambit Declined) requires Black  to be well prepared, for instance: 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e4 Nc6 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3 * and the complications are wild.

Just want to know..everyone is replying d4 with d5 what if we reply 1d4 with Nf6 2Nf3 and then whites  starts london system...any ideas against it..I liked Yelena Dembo's book Fighting the Anti-KID..

Strangely enough I've been dwelling on this question today. I think if folk followed Pfren's idea they wouldn't go far wrong. I do like the idea of punishing white.

The problem with annoying "d" pawn openings is they are hard to avoid. For example 1d4 c5, white can play c3 or e3. Against a KID white can play the Barry Attack. I've been racking my brain. Part of me says "OK take a draw against a similiar rated player and then when you get white don't play like a wuss yourself".

Another idea I keep returning to is what I call the "Deferred" Polish 1d4 Nf6 (hoping to head towards a Nimzo) 2Nf3 "ouch!" boring "d" player  .....b5 !?  Of course white may have been heading towards a Colle or an anemic QGD as well as a London.

I played an "annoying" "d" player OTB the other day (nice fellow actually) and the game ended up as a QGD with colours reversed which has inspired me to return to my meditation on 1d4 Nf6 2Nf3 groan....

Interesting gambit. Do you have any games with that ?

A good response that has caused me some trouble is 1.d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 c5. If white responds with e3 then black can play Qb6 with a very interesting game. I recently played against the best Junior player in Oregon with it and it ended up with a pretty interesting game.

Hi guys . Isnt this good for black , against london system?  1.d4 d5 2.bf4 c5 3.nf3 nc6 

Shankland's line 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4 Bg7 4. e3 d6 5. Be2 (or something else) 0-0 6. h3 Nfd7!? 7. 0-0 e5!? is worth considering for KID players.

A possible continuation is 8. Bh2 Nc6 9. c4 f5 10. Nc3 e4 11. Nd2 Nf6 with a highly dynamic position where black can play for a win.

Possibly helpful:

Grandmaster Repertoire 11: Beating 1 d4 Sidelines by Boris Avrukh (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627001415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen164.pdf

Dealing with d4 Deviations by John Cox (2005)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627032909/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen89.pdf

d6 puts a nice buzz kill on any London/Colle/Stonewall stuff. If you start Nf6 regardless of your opening you can usually get d6 in without deviating too far out of your own zone.

I like to out-bore these players. Piss them off. They have one plan and have no clue what to do when you shut them down

I have some French shooting squadron of my own.