The best (equalizing) move orders against the London System

I've played hundreds of London System games as White and studied critical mainline variations with Stockfish. I believe that with best play Black can equalize early against all mainline move orders (haven't played or analyzed Jobava London...yet).

The move order I recommend is 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 c5 3. e3 Nf6 ( or1...Nf6, 2...d5, and 3...c5.). White has two main responses, 4. c3 and 4. Nf6.

Sidelines:

1. 4. Nd2 Qb6 wins a pawn and White can barely retain equality after. 5. Ngf3 Nc6 or 5. dxxc5 Qxb2, which will be covered under 4. Nf3 by transposition.
2. 4. c4 cxd4 5. exd4 Nc6 6. Nc3 g6 is better for Black (7 Nb5 e5! 8. dxe5 Bb4+).
3. 4. dxc5 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. c4 Bxc5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Be2 Bxc4 9. Bxc4 a6 10. O-O b5 is a mostly symmetrical position with equality for black.
4. 4. Nc3 is the Jobava variation. It usually offers unique gameplay compared to the main London System move orders and I haven't played or analyzed it so I won't cover it here.

White's first mainline try is 4. c3, and after 4...Qb6 5. Qb3 c4 there are two options:

1. 6. Qc2 g6! Black controls the e4 square in this move order even after 7. Nd2, and since White cannot play e4 he is powerless to stop ...Bf5. The best try is 7.b3 Bf5 8. Qd1 cxb3 9. axb3 Bg7 with equality.
2. 6. Qxb6 axb6 7. Na3 Bd7 controls the .b5 square and equalizes, for example 8. Nf3 e6 9. Nc2 b5 10. Be2 Nc6

The second try is 4. Nf3. Now 4...Qb6 5. Nc3 with an edge for White, so instead we play 4...Nc6. Now there are three options:

1. 5. Bb5 Qa5+ 6, Nc3 Ne4 7. O-O Nxc3 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. bxc3 (9. Qd2 Ne2+! 10. Qxe2 Ba6 11. Qe1 Qd8 wins the exchange) 9...Qxc3 with a clean extra pawn.
2. 5. c3 Qb6 6. Qb3 c4 7. Qc2 Bf5! is a well-known tactic that gives Black a clear edge.
3. 5. Nbd2 Qb6 again wins a pawn with the double attack. Black needs to play carefully to limit White's compensation, but after 6. dxc5 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qc3 8. Bb5 e6 9. O-O Be7! 10. Ne5 Qxc5 11. c4 O-O Black has a small edge.

The London System is still a great opening that offers challenging gameplay and most opponents will play a different move order that may give you opportunity for advantage. But if I've left out any critical lines or misevaluated any of the ones here please feel free to comment.

Bumping this up as it would be great to hear from London players or anyone who plays against it as Black with thoughts on these opening lines and whether there are any improvements or different evaluations.

What would make it easier to read, in terms of formatting?

I think the main point of these move orders is that in the positions where Black plays ...e6 before ...Bf5 it's a lot harder to equalize because of the bad bishop creating a more passive position, while if you forgo ...Nf6 then ...Bf5 often doesn't work because d5 and e4 aren't sufficiently controlled. At the same time, delaying ...Qb6 until after White has played both c3 and Nd3 usually takes all the sting out of it and White can avoid making positional concessions. So from my analysis these very specific move orders address all of these elements of the position.

What do you think about 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 b5?

Just for future readers, I'm creating a board to make this easier to follow.

I wholeheartedly agree with your assumption that the 4. c3 Accelerated London mainlines are easily equalized or refuted outright by Black, but I believe that a Traditional London (1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 c5 4. e3 or 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Bc4 c5 4. e3) is slightly harder to defeat. 
SF 15+ NNUE sees 10. Ne5 in the 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 line as a minor inaccuracy. Apparently, 10. e4 with intent to play 11. e5 is correct in the position. Given this, I would discount that line as slightly incorrect and ask your opinion of the 2 lines Stockfish prefers:
4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Qb6 6. dxc5 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qc3 8. Bb5 e6 9. 0-0 Be7 10. e4 0-0 (with the preferred continuation following 11. e5 Nd7 12. Nb3 Qb4 before splitting equally between 13. Nfd4 and 13. Nbd4)
and
4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nbd2 Qb6 6. dxc5 Qxb2 7. Rb1 Qc3 8. Bb5 e6 9. 0-0 Be7 10. e4 a6 (even here, Stockfish analyzes two moves as retaining a small advantage: 11. Bxc6 and 11. Rb3, separated by a negligible tenth of a point or less at depth 30+, while moves such as 11. Be5 and 11. Bd3 remain equal or slightly advantageous for White)
I would also ask what you say to 4. c3 Qb6 5. Qc2, disallowing both c4 or Bf5 while still preforming the intended task of defending the b2 pawn.

I do have this variation covered in my 1.d4 Sidelines Study. It also covers Jobava London and it's based on the Grandmaster Repertoire book. According to pfren, there is a new line that you can find in the (ERIC ROSEN) chapter, but I haven't finished analyzing it in depth. 

Regardless, knowing about the first 5 moves is almost all you need, and knowing the ...Bf5 plan whether it is to sacrifice it or not.

I checked your study, and it doesn't quite match the variation I mentioned. You have 6. Qc2 after both 2. Nf3 and 4... Nc6 have been played, whereas in the variation I asked about, 5. Qc2 happens before both. In this variation, 6. Bf5!? loses a bishop, and if 6... Qxb2, 7. Qc8# to follow. Thusly, 6. Nc6 must be played, and White has the tempo from eschewing 2. Nf3 with which to defend their position however they see fit.

Nice analysis there! I once did some analysis and got the impression that against 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. c3 Qb6 best is to play 6. Qc2. Takes away most of the fun for black. Bf5 doesn't work because of 7. dxc5 Bxc2 8. cxb6. Wonder if you agree.

Not quite. 6... Bf5 doesn't work, but 6... Nh5 or 6... g6 and Black equalizes.

Going to try to bump this thread back to life. Considering that a full third of the players in the forums are London players or London haters, this is the single best thread for any of them

i believe the best way to go against the london is, nf6-c5-Qb6

white gets issues in the opening which no london player wants and the game is quite tactical

The issue with this variation is that after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 c5, the Spielmann-Indian Variation, 3. d5 and Black's best way to continue is a direct transposition to the Declined Benko/Blumenfeld Countergambit, but White scores quite well in these lines. If White continues playing London development, Black will do quite well, however.

Yeah, 3.d5 and black's position already looks not great.

yeah but to fix that just learn the benoni, most people even at my level dont go d5

After all these months... I've finally found this post again...

Yeah, the issue is that that isn't a Benoni at that point, it's an Old Benoni.