The Jobava London — A Top-Level Repertoire for White by GM Szymon Gumularz and GM Pier Luigi Basso
For most of its history, the London System was the opening you reached for when you wanted a quiet life. Baadur Jobava changed the question. By slipping the knight to c3 before the bishop appears — 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4 — he kept everything that made the London easy to learn and added what the classical version never had: a direct route to creating attacking chances. The early Nc3 unlocks the thematic Nb5 jump against the weak c7-square and clears the way for the Qd2–Bh6 plan against the fianchetto. That is the idea running through this repertoire from start to finish — the London, rebuilt as an attacking system.
What Makes This Course Different
The organizing philosophy comes straight from the author: low theory, high results. Instead of an exhaustive encyclopedia, this is a single, all-in-one volume that gives White a concrete recommendation against every reasonable Black reply after 3.Bf4 — fifteen chapters built on fresh engine analysis and original ideas rather than recycled theory. The focus throughout is on plans you can reproduce in your very next game: where the pieces belong, when the Nb5 jump bites, and how to convert the Qd2–Bh6 setup into a genuine kingside initiative.
GM Szymon Gumularz, who annotates the repertoire in his own voice, designed it as his personal and complete take on the system, pairing top-engine preparation with practical, club-ready recommendations. He is joined by GM Pier Luigi Basso, and their shared reasoning is simple: a serious player shouldn't have to memorize hundreds of forcing lines to walk out of the opening with a dangerous position. The Jobava London delivers exactly that: not much theory, plenty of attacking chances.
The Repertoire at a Glance
After 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4, every reasonable Black reply has its own answer:
3...c5 — the modern main line; Black strikes the center immediately
- 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4, meeting both ...Bg4 and ...a6 → Chapter 3 (the longest and most important chapter)
- 4...Qa5 — Fier's provocative modern try → Chapter 2
- 4...a6, ...Bg4 and the remaining 4th-move sidelines → Chapter 1
3...a6 — a flexible move order popular in rapid and online play
- 4.e3 e6, the principled continuation → Chapter 4
- 4...b5, ambitious queenside expansion → Chapter 5
- 4...h6 — Dardha's prophylactic idea → Chapter 6
3...e6 — the old, reliable main line
- 4.Nb5 Na6, the classical reply → Chapter 8
- 4...Bb4+, the concrete modern alternative → Chapter 7
3...Bf5 — the symmetrical approach, with ideas to break the symmetry → Chapter 9
3...g6 — the fianchetto, built around the Qd2–Bh6 attacking plan → Chapters 10, 11 and 12
3...Nh5 — Gavrilescu's engine-inspired disruption → Chapter 13
3...Bd7 — Kazakouski's online surprise → Chapter 14
3...c6 — Jospem's solid, Slav-flavored setup → Chapter 15
Premium Course Features
This is a Modern Chess Premium course, built as a complete training system:
- 15 theory chapters with video explanations
- 30 test positions — critical moments with tactical and strategic solutions
- 5 training positions for interactive computer practice
- To-Go Version of every chapter — condensed files for pre-game review
- Memory Booster — for long-term recall of key ideas
- Multilingual PGN files — English, German, French, and Spanish
- Full download access — all materials are yours to keep
If you're also building a Black repertoire against 1.e4, the authors cover that ground in French Defense According to Gumularz.
Add The Jobava London — Top-Level Repertoire for White to your library, learn the few ideas that matter, and put a low-maintenance attacking weapon to work in your next game.