London System - Pawn Structures, Tactical Ideas, Endgames, and Theoretical Trends (Setups with ...g7-g6).
Introduction and Free Preview
The second London camp is already a digital product. This product includes all the videos from the camp as well as the PGN file related to the training sessions. Overall, the material consists of approximately 7.5 hours of video and a PGN database which includes 66 files!
You will find the following lectures:
Modern Theoretical Trends - GM Swapnil Dhopade
Typical Pawn Structures - Setups with ...d7-d5 - GM Grigor Grigorov
Understand the Jobava System (Bf4 & Nc3) - GM Ivan Cheparinov
Typical Endgames - GM Petar Arnaudov
Typical Pawn Structures - Setups with ...d7-d6 - GM Krasimir Rusev
Q&A Session with GM Grigor Grigorov and GM Petar Arnaudov
In this article, we will briefly present some interesting moments taken from the lectures.
Modern Theoretical Trends - GM Swapnil Dhopade
In this lecture, GM Dhopade deals with modern theoretical trends. He focuses on the position arising after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Be2 d6
Now Black has essentially two ways to play in this position:
1. Break in the centre with ...e5
2. Break in the centre with ...c5
Black has different moves possible here but all moves are aimed at breaking with ...e5 and ...c5 immediately or after a few moves.
In his analysis, besides examining all the move order subtleties, the Indian GM provides fresh ideas and novelties for both sides. He proves that these lines are very much playable for both colours.
Typical Pawn Structures - Setups with ...d7-d5 - GM Grigor Grigorov
In his lecture, GM Grigorov deals with all the important structures that you should know after ...d7-d5. The setups based on ...d7-d5 are usually preferred by Gruenfeld players. Therefore, if you play the Gruenfeld Defence or you want to prepare against a Gruenfeld fan, this article is just for you.
In his lecture, GM Grigorov examines the following pawn structures:
Basic Structure
Structures with ...c5-c4
Space Advantage for Black
Carlsbad Structure with Colours Reversed
Symmetrical Structure
The PGN version of the lecture includes 14 model games and 6 test positions. Below, you can take a look at one of the model games.
Understand the Jobava System (Bf4 & Nc3) - GM Ivan Cheparinov
In this lecture, the famous theoretician GM Ivan Cheparinov examines the fashionable Jobava System which arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 g6 3.Nc3 d5
Compared to the usual London system positions, the knight is not placed so well on the c3-square as on d2 in some lines. White has two main ideas in this type of position:
1) to push h2-h4-h5, usually supported by Be2, and
2) to play Nb5 trying to gain some tempi on the queenside.
As a result of his in-depth analysis, GM Cheparinov reaches the conclusion that with a very precise play, Black is doing fine. After studying this lecture, you will be armed with a complete Jobava System repertoire for both colours.
Typical Endgames - GM Petar Arnaudov
This lecture of GM Petar Arnaudov features the endgames which are typical for the setups with ...g7-g6.
Even though most of the London endgames seem pretty harmless for Black, the positions are extremely tricky.
For example, let's take a look at the diagram below:
If you don't immediately understand why exactly White is slightly better, this lecture is for you.
Mastering the seemingly equal London endgames will bring you a lot of tournament victories. In general, blind trust in computers evaluations makes our opponents underestimate the danger in such positions. Of course, such an attitude from the opponent only increases the practical value of the endgame-based approach.
GM Arnaudov divides the material into three parts:
1) Endgame with an open d-file
2) Black is exchanging queens on b3
3) White is exchanging queens on b6
The PGN version of the lecture includes 11 model games and 11 test positions.
Below, you can take a look at one of the model games.
Typical Pawn Structures - Setups with ...d7-d6 - GM Krasimir Rusev
In this lecture, GM Krasimir Rusev shares his approach to the positions with ...d7-d6. Besides the explanations related to the typical positional ideas and plans, Rusev suggests some rarely used move tricks. After studying this lecture, you will be able to face the setups with ...d7-d6 without remembering forced lines.
The PGN version of the lecture consists of 8 highly instructive model games. Below, you can see one of them.