Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

← chesspieler / Openings

Playing Black · 33 blitz games · 15W 15L 3D · Your opponents choose this

London System

You meet the London politely and it drags on too long.

Score50%+1% vs your average
Win chance after move 1249%−3% vs your average
Blunders per game1.21same as your average
Clock left at move 102:39same as your average
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Your most common line

1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Nf6 3. Nf3

What it says about you

White plays the London against your 1...d5, and you answer with quiet development. You are not trying to unbalance it, and you end up in the long positions the London player wants. You also have not played it recently, with no games in the last 90 days.

How you play it

You come out slightly worse: a win chance of 48.6 at move 12 and 48.4 at move 20, both below your baselines of 52.1 and 54.1. You score exactly 50.0% (15 wins, 15 losses, 3 draws). These are your longest games at 41.4 moves on average, and 7 of 15 losses were timeouts. You converted 14 of 23 winning positions (61%).

What you're missing

  1. 01

    Your move-12 and move-20 win chances (48.6 and 48.4) are below baseline. You are not getting anything from the opening against the London.

  2. 02

    Hung a rook: at move 14 you played ...Rxe3 instead of ...Ne7, dropping from 42 to 8 with 114.7s left. That was not time trouble.

  3. 03

    Endgame errors: at move 29 ...Kf7 instead of ...Nc4 (78 to 42) and at move 31 ...f4 instead of ...Rc8 (46 to 19), both around 30-40s.

  4. 04

    Long games mean timeouts: 7 of 15 losses. At 41.4 moves on average, you run out of clock before the game ends.

How to improve it

  1. 01

    Against the London, play ...c5, ...Nc6 and ...Qb6 early, hitting b2 and d4. It is the most practical way to make White think in blitz.

  2. 02

    Another good option is ...Bd6 to challenge the Bf4 bishop, which gets rid of White's best piece.

  3. 03

    If you want a more solid setup, play ...e6, ...Bd6, ...O-O, ...c5 and ...Nc6. It gives you an active version of the same structure.

  4. 04

    In endgames, look for active piece moves before king moves or pawn pushes. Both recent endgame slips were passive choices where the engine wanted active pieces.

Where it goes wrong

Your losses in this opening, by where and how the decisive mistake happened.

Phase of the decisive mistake

opening3n=3
middlegame7n=7
endgame2n=2

What the mistake was

Hung a piece (left it undefended)4n=4
Lost on time in a playable position3n=3
Big positional error (no simple tactic)3n=3
Missed a tactic / only move1n=1
Walked into a fork1n=1

Variations you reach

Main line3350%

Winning positions converted here: 61% (14 of 23).

Recent mistakes in this opening

Your move in red, Stockfish's in black.

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Hung a piece · 1:55 left
14… Rxe3? Best was Ne7. 42% → 8%
vs Yannick_007 (1463) · 21-06-26 →
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Positional error · 2:23 left
20… Ne4? Best was Ba3. 72% → 33%
vs elfolivre4 (1486) · 27-05-26 →
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Endgame error · 0:39 left
29… Kf7? Best was Nc4. 78% → 42%
vs elfolivre4 (1486) · 27-05-26 →
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Endgame error · 0:33 left
31… f4? Best was Rc8. 46% → 19%
vs elfolivre4 (1486) · 27-05-26 →

Next steps

01

Learn the ...Qb6 setup

Play ...c5, ...Nc6 and ...Qb6 against the London. You get more active play and force White to spend time.

02

Aim for shorter games

At 41.4 moves on average, your games run too long for 3|0. Look for piece trades from move 20.

03

Check rook safety before capturing

Before any rook capture, check what defends the target square. ...Rxe3 hung the rook with plenty of time.