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 :)
