You don't play 3. Bf4 against this line and some others (according to GingerGM). You want to go for 3. e4 when you can (i e.: when Black doesn't play Nf6 and d5). For example against King's Indian (Nf6,g6) setups and Queen's gambit reversed (d5,c5).

@@man0utoftime Exactly, e4 is the French. Even simple moves like 3. Nf3 are already worse for white, only Bg5 holds equality according to the engine (aside from e4), tho it transposes into the McCutcheon if black wants so it's inferior. Just gives black more options. Including a line where black clips an extra pawn but gets their king trapped, something you wouldn't want to get into with a preparation disadvantage: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bg5 Be7 4. e4 Nxe4 5. Bxe7 Nxc3 6. Bxd8 Nxd1 7. Bxc7 Nxb2 8. Bd6

@@john11inchlhb40 I wasn't suggesting 4. e4, but 3. e4. Where is 3. Bg5 coming from? That's a Veresov, not the Jobava.

@@john11inchlhb40 Like you said, it does transpose to the French, if say 3..d5, 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 (Steinitz). White is okay. Not exactly any kind of d4 opening or London, obviously.

@@man0utoftime I was also talking about 3. e4. The only time I talked about 4. e4 was in looking at ways to avoid transposing to the French with 3. Bg5, and the line I gave shows that black has extra independent lines there so it's better to just go directly into the French with 3. e4

I totally agree, e.g. 3.Bf4 c5 is annoying, when White probably has to play 4.d5 ... Stjepan, it would be great to get your thoughts on this!

If you don’t want to learn a Nc3 french after e4 (which black has nothing better, Bb4 is a blunder) then you basically have two options. The first is e4 anyways and after d5 you can play exd5 which will give you an exchange french. Not exactly optimal but very tame, not too tricky and no theory required really. The second way to play, which I really like, is 3. g4 which seems absolutely crazy but this gambit is 0.0 after Nxg4. You get some great counterplay and development atter Nxg4 e4. Even if black plays the best move, Bb4, after Qd3 the position is basically equal (-0.2) but black will probably be uncomfortable due to the fringe nature of the position with g4

​@@valbarker610 I am a slightly different player than i was 7 months ago, and I now do accept the French transposition (though I still hate the caro transposition) but there is still a way to transpose to a fairly uncomfortable line (d4 d5 Nc3 Nf6 Bf4 e6) which I think needed a bit more explanation in the "Blacks Best Jobava" video. Your line in the French is definitely interesting, and Ill probably try it out in a few blitz games in the future. thanks for the suggestions my friend

he has vienna already on the channel if im not mistaken

Englund system is worse for black. Dxe5 and know the trap with mate in a couple of moves. If you study the traps, you know what to do. As black, don't play Englund. As white study that main line with trap ...

@@jedagelijksebraintraining Is there a way to not play Dxe5? I feel like accepting the gambit takes me out of my comfort zone and its hard to know what are the main plans for white. I have been pushing 2d5 to avoid taking the pawn and develop my pieces normally. Is there a line to force black to transpose back into something similar to the Jobava London system?

@@magicity if you accept the gambit, and play Nc3 you avoid the traps. If you think you can still play London, I don't know if you can force that. There are nice lines for white where black has nothing. There are a main trap with mate in 8 or so.

@@jedagelijksebraintraining alright I shall try Dxe5 and Nc3. hopefully it will lead to better games for me. Thanks so much for the advice!

I think he's already mentioned in the past that he is planning on it.

No that’s a dream position for white

There are a ton of systems that challenge whites London like agadmators 'anti-London' but if white has prep he can equalize. There are ideas like g4 but that just comes with engine analysis and opening prep. My personal favorite is 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 c5 3.e3 Qb6 4. Na3 d6 5. Nc4 Qc7

As white you can take on c5, play Nf3 etc. but that will lead into a bad english opening (without c4 pawn). The best and only I’d say is just to push d5. Now you will get some Ben oni structure with Nc3, does alowing some different ideas than lines with c4. As black if you play Nf6 c5 against d4 openings, it is universal. You can learn Czech, Old, Modern, maybe Snake Ben onies, maybe some old indian defenses etc. You will have to know mainly patterns and also theory when it comes to main lines and whites tries to punish your play. If your oponent doesnt push d5, you transpose into something very weird after taking on d4, I’d say some english without c4 push, which has to be great for black (already equal if not better). You can continue by playing e6, Nc6, Qb6, Bc5 or b4 maybe cd4 or if you prefer fianchetto than just simple g6 Bg7 0-0 cd4 Nc6/d7 etc. All in all you have a good position, therefore if you are white go d5, always.

If black inserts e6 before c5 then you won't really get a Benoni; everything will get liquidated immediately into a very equal, or maybe slightly more active for white but practically equal, position. There's not much you can do about it aside from let them go into the French. If they do 2...c5 then yes, you can go into old Benoni.

If black doesn't play d5, in most cases you play d5.

Nah openings are better

@@yoyotheplayer9403 Without good opening you are probably not reaching endgame and with band endgames it doest metter how good your opening was, you just lose.

@@jaroslavpors6559 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 True bro

Everything is superior to any london, literally there is no line (played by strong players, not some tricky garbage) that is worse for black in the whole london. On the other hand, you can play it without big risk and you can study very very deeply some late middlegames/endings etc. But objectively, london isnt there to bring you advantage.