My Favorite Anti-London Weapon

The London is solid, safe, and boring enough to make you question why you even play chess.

Here’s the funny part - I didn’t plan some big secret counter for it. I just stumbled on this idea one day watching almost random blitz game online. I remember it was Michael Adams with white pieces, who started with the London setup and I almost lost interest in watching it, when it suddenly hit me: "Wait a second... this kid (with black) has exactly the same setup as white in the classical Reti opening!"

The kid was about 400-500 rating points below Adams, yet he managed to keep the game unclear til the very end! However, what really surprised me wasn’t that the moves worked - but that it instantly took the London off my prep list forever. I’ve been doing it ever since. And since I already have had the Reti opening in my repertoire with white pieces, there was no new chess opening theory, no hours of memorizing lines - just my same old setup, only with reversed colors.

Reti opening pawn structure & Reversed Reti pawn structure (and its trademark)

This is the move order that I suggest (to get into the Reversed Reti against the London):

1. d4 Nf6
2. Nf3 g6
3. Bf4 Bg7
4. e3 0-0
5. Be2 c5
6. c3 b6
7. h3 Bb7
8. Nbd2 d6
9. 0-0 Nbd7

So if you like calm, slow chess and you already know the idea from the Reti opening with white, this is the easiest trick in the book. You don’t have to learn anything new - just flip it around, play your game, and watch the London player lose their precious autopilot plan.

If you happen to find the game I described - Adams with White, and a kid, a Candidate Master or FIDE Master playing Black using the reversed Reti system — feel free to drop the link in the comments (I think it was played in Katowice, Poland). Meanwhile, I created a video for those who want to check out this Reversed Reti system against the London.

Let me know what you think!