Chess Lesson # 58: Best Opening for White | Opposite Side Castling Attack | London System

Many of you know the London system is a great Chess opening for white. However, you never thought of it as an aggressive set-up that could incorporate the ideas of opposite-side castling attack. In this Chess class, you will learn how to play the London system. You will see how it is possible to play it positionally if that’s what you prefer. However, I will try to convince you to play it aggressively because attacking an opposite-side castled king effectively is a skill you must learn regardless of your style or opening preference. It just doesn’t depend on you. If your opponent castles to the opposite side, an aggressive war is declared and you have to know how to attack!

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First tactics book:
Mixed tactics book:
Advanced tactics book:
Advanced tactics book (II):
Carlsen’s book (excellent):
Kramnik’s book (excellent):
Pirc Defense book:
Endgames book:

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Chess is an intellectual battle where players are exposed to numerous mental processes such as analysis, attention to detail, synthesis, concentration, planning and foresight. Psychological factors are also present on and off the board; playing Chess stimulates our imagination and creativity. Every single move a player makes is the result of a deep analysis based on the elements presented on the battlefield.

Chess in its essence teaches us psychological, sociological and even moral values. In a Chess game, both players start with the same amount of material and time. The fact that the white pieces move first is considered to be practically irrelevant —especially because a player typically plays one game as white and one game as black. Consequently, the final result of the battle solely depends on each player. It doesn’t matter if you win by taking advantage of your opponent’s mistakes or by simply avoiding mistakes yourself. Truth is that Chess is an extremely individual sport and our defeats can only be blamed on ourselves and no one else. And this, in the end, only benefits us because we learn to be and feel responsible for our actions and never come up with excuses to justify ourselves.

We also learn that when it comes to our victories on the board, our opponent’s mistakes play a more significant role than our own skills. Let’s not forget that a Chess game without any mistakes would be a draw. This way, Chess provides us with another valuable life lesson: be humble at all times.

About National Master Robert Ramirez:

With an outstanding background as a professional Chess player and over 8 years of teaching experience, Robert Ramirez brings both his passion and his expertise to the board, helping you believe & achieve!

Robert Ramirez was introduced to the fascinating world of Chess when he was 5 years old and has participated in prestigious tournaments such as the World Open Chess Tournament and the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships. Thanks to his performance, he has earned his National Master title from the United States Chess Federation.

Currently, NM Ramirez and his carefully selected team teach at several private schools in the counties of Miami-Dade and Broward and they also offer private lessons. He says the key to their success as Chess coaches is their ability to adapt to every student and to make lessons fun and interesting for students and even their family members.

130 Comments

  1. Wow, I watched this last night and the first time I tried it, I checkmate my opponent early in the game with knight on g5 and queen on h7. For black I'm learning caro kann. Are the any vids that give attacking ideas for that system. In some ways it seems similar to London in that you get the bishop out of the pawn triangle.

  2. after every opening could you please give us a list of 8-10 games by GM's using that opening that you would recomend we study.
    because when i go to chessgames there are hundreds of games played by GM's and i cannot go through all of them together so those 8-10 games would really give a good boost to the opening👍

  3. Thanks. Familiar with the opposite side attacking concept and developing my dark square bishop outside my pawn chain. Just haven't studied the London System yet. Always have felt comfortable (at least at first 🙂 ) with this opening.

  4. hello !
    here is a game i played today (london opening)
    I was white and unfortunately lost…..(lost on time)
    But i could not understand few moves during analysis:

    1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Bf5 3. Bf4 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Bg3 O-O 7. Nbd2 c6 8. Qe2
    Qc7 9. Ne5 Nbd7 10. Ndf3 Ne4 11. Nxd7 Nxg3 12. hxg3 Qxd7 13. O-O-O b5 14. Ne5
    Qc7 15. f4 b4 16. c4 c5 17. g4 Be4 18. cxd5 cxd4+ 19. Qc4 Bxe5 20. fxe5 Qxc4+
    21. Bxc4 exd5 22. Bd3 Bxg2 23. Bxh7+ Kh8 24. Rh2 g6 25. Bxg6+ Kg7 26. Rxg2 fxg6
    27. Kd2 dxe3+ 28. Kxe3 Rfe8 29. Kf4 g5+ 30. Kxg5 Rxe5+ 31. Kf4 Re4+ 0-1

    The engine says my move no. 14 Ne5 is a blunder, instead it wanted me to do Nh4. My understanding was that the engine wanted me to attack blacks kingside but i tried to create an outpost and possibly eliminate their bishop pair. This one move moved the evalutaion bar 2 points in blacks favour🙁. Could you please indicate the flaw in my strategy here thanks.

    Also now on move 15 f4 again the engine says its a blunder. it wants me t do instead g4. I also thought about g4 but to me one strengthened my outpost and other attacked the bishop but the bishop would easily escape. SO how do i decide when both look equally good but one of them is a big blunder. Also could you explain why it was a blunder ??

    Thanks for your time

  5. Congrats for 10k subscribers …100k coming soon

  6. Hello coach, what if black moves C3 or C4, followed by Qb3? The queen will be attacking by undefended pawn on b2 and making a shambles of my queen side, how do we defend?

  7. Coach this is the video I have been waiting for 👍
    If at 11:32 black plays a5 , with which piece we shall take back ? Pawn or rook is better ?
    Many thx

  8. Final question plz. At 13:20 why not capturing towards the center as u teached us ?

  9. https://www.chess.com/a/2ENBS139pKszN My recent game using the opening you taught. My opponent resigned on move 18. I'm sure many of your subscribers will find useful your analysis, what I did correctly and what I could have done better. I'm currently rated 1220. Most notably move #16, dealing with the B on F5. I advanced the pawn to drive the Bishop off, instead of Nxf5. Comments by others are also welcome. My thought was advancing the pawn would be helpful and allow him to join in the attack. If I follow NxF5-exf5-QxF5-g6. From there I didn't see a way to break through, suggestions? Regardless my opponent resigned instead of playing, perhaps he saw something I didn't to cause him to resign? If so I can't find it lol.

  10. @NM RAMIREZ- I had saved the entire library of your vids. I believe it's 100 videos. I'm super impressed with the Czech pirc black vid, the middle game strategy outpost vid, and this video is seriously great too! I'm trying to find your vid on pattern recognition that can help me reduce my amt of missed checkmates… Could you please help me out and lmk what # video that you address that. Thanks for helping me increase my rating 100 points in 2 weeks 1300-1400!

  11. What if I used it against the King's Indian Defense?🤣

  12. Hi Robert. Love your videos. You’re a great teacher. I’m curious how you handle an early c5 and then c4 pawn push by black? It would make your white bishop retreat to e3 and mess up the set up you’re going for. Thanks!

  13. I just watched your pirc defence video…and crushed a 1700 on lichess…I made 0 mistakes and 0 Blunders…

  14. I think the Jobava variant of the London with Nc3 coming as the first Knight move would speed the goal of queenside castling.
    Thanks for this lesson.

  15. OK, so I used to play the London but I hated it so I ditched it. I never thought of opposite side castling! Just played a game like this and got the checkmate!

    1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bf4 e6 4. e3 a6 5. c3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Bxf4 7. exf4 Nf6 8. Nbd2
    O-O 9. Qc2 g6 10. h4 b5 11. h5 Nxh5 12. g4 Nxf4 13. O-O-O b4 14. Ne5 Nxd3+ 15.
    Qxd3 Nxe5 16. dxe5 bxc3 17. Qxc3 d4 18. Qh3 h5 19. gxh5 g5 20. Nf3 Qd5 21. Rxd4
    g4 22. Qxg4+ Kh7 23. Rxd5 Rg8 24. Ng5+ Kh6 25. Nxf7+ Kh7 26. Qe4+ Kg7 27. Qg6+
    Kf8 28. Rd8+ Ke7 29. Qf6#

  16. Can we do the same with stonewall attack

  17. after 2.Bf4 c5! can transpose into an exchange Caro Kann.

  18. I watch for the opportunity to castle once my opponent commits his big material to attacking position on one side of the board. Then I castle to the other side to force my opponent to have to traverse the board to get at My king

  19. I love the way you teach man. Muchisimas Gracias!

  20. how i missed this lesson heheh I thought I had studied all the lessons and I am discovering some heheh thank you master for all

  21. Thank you for explaining the rationale behind the moves. This is excellent!

  22. Interesting but what do you do with a passed pawn response to the pawn attack?🤔

  23. Brilliant idea to start attacking before castling !

  24. Great video, thank you so much for the time you put into these and sharing your knowledge! At the very end of the video you castled to the same side as opponent. Would you then start a pawn attack on the opposite side? Even though it's not going after the king?

  25. what happens when someone plays the czech pirc against this London system? have you seen this happen?

  26. This is a great video, coach. There are a lot of great tips and hints besides the London system specific teachings. I found the places where you pointed out, "watch out here when this happens" or "if you go here this could happen, but if you go here instead…" to apply to any situation we might find ourselves in. Very good lessons in learning how to think about and "see" Chess moves.

  27. Chess is a game in which two people fancy themselves doing something very clever when, in fact, they are doing nothing at all.

  28. To me, the opening looks finished when the vid starts.

  29. I am using these openings in my games. With these openings, I can now think clearly and face my opponents with confidence. I don't have what it takes to be an advanced player. I don't play tournament matches. I play Chess simply because it's so fascinating. These lessons by NM Ramirez are a big help and they have made me enjoy playing Chess all the more.

  30. The colle system is so damn good thank you coach

  31. Black can do the same thing. Who is faster is the question.

  32. A GOOD CHESS PLAYER SHOULD KNOW HOW TO PLAY WITH ONLY THE KING AND PAWN

  33. Robert, You have the BEST YouTube channel for learning chess. Love the way you explain how and why you do things and then even add options when the plan does not work out perfectly. I have been trying to use this opening, but I have run into a lot of opponents who wait forever to finally castle and I find myself a little lost and wondering in my moves waiting for them so I can start attacking their king. Do you have a variation or advice on how to proceed when your opponent is slow castling? Thanks again !!

  34. What if black comes out with Bf5, ruining the queen/bishop move?

  35. That's insane dude… 0 blunders 🔥 thanks

  36. By far the best Chess video I've ever watched,keep it up.

  37. Like the commenter who preceded me, I am very impressed with this teaching style and chess strategy.

  38. This is absolutely BRILLIANT! Thank you very much for putting this lesson online. I will try it soon and I have subscribed…much appreciated.

  39. On their 4th move they always seem to go bg4 pinning my knight to my queen

  40. what if after pe3, black plays nh5 attacking white bishop?

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