Answers.Body: <p>Actually Simon Williams, the GingerGM has covered these cases in his videos on the original London System and the Jobava London.</p>
  <p>He has two suggestions.</p>
  <p><a href="https://youtu.be/_KahCgu1u7w?t=1283" rel="noreferrer">The first</a> is to switch to a QGD setup with c4 followed by Nc3 and possibly Qb3 to hit both the b7 and d5 pawns. Williams covers the slightly scary looking response BxNb1 followed by Bb4+ from black and shows that white gets a perfectly good game.</p>
  <p><a href="https://youtu.be/bPLrXjQyNFQ?t=599" rel="noreferrer">The second</a> is to transpose to something like a Jobava London / Veresov setup with f3. The ides here is to grab space on the kingside with g4 and possibly also h4.</p>
  <p>The key, as always in opening play, is to not play in a formulaic way just bashing out the same moves regardless of what your opponent does. Instead you need to be able to react and change your plans to take advantage of variations your opponent might play.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2022-07-10T15:32:09.977Z
Answers.Text: +1 for the final paragraph alone.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Ian Bush
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Answers.Text: Seconded. Whoever tries to play Bf5 against me (and I warned my whole chess club that it won't necessarily solve the usual Bc8 problem), be it in QGD or Caro-Kann or whatever, will run into a problem on b7, or the annoying Qxb3 bind, where the B stands exactly wrong  (I hope you know which system I mean), or will be molested with g4/h4 plus Ne5 in the worst case. Can't count the number of games I won thus, probably more than "regular London".
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Body: <p>I usually have problems with the light-squared bishop when Black takes it out of the pawn chain and doesn't exchange it, but instead either protects it with the e-pawn:</p>
  <pre><code>rn1qkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p1b2/3P1B2/3BP3/PPP2PPP/RN1QK1NR w KQkq - 0 5
  1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Bf5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 e6
  </code></pre>
  <p>or moves it back to g6:</p>
  <pre><code>rn1qkb1r/ppp1pppp/5nb1/3p4/3P1B2/3BP3/PPP2PPP/RN1QK1NR w KQkq - 3 5
  1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Bf5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg6
  </code></pre>
  <p>If I exchange bishops, then Black will have either a very strong control of e4 to place a knight (when protected by the e-pawn), or a semi-open file for the h-rook (when in g6). If I don't exchange it, then the constant threat of Bxd3 hinders my development; I can't play the usual London moves c3, Nbd2 and my queen has to keep an eye on protecting the bishop.</p>
  <p>In all videos about the London that I've seen, it's assumed that Black will keep his light-squared behind the pawn chain or will exchange it in d3. How do you deal with it when in those other cases?</p>
  
Tags: <opening><strategy><bishops><london-system>
Title: How do you deal with Black's light-squared bishop when it's out of the pawn chain and not exchanged in the London?
ThreadText: # How do you deal with Black's light-squared bishop when it's out of the pawn chain and not exchanged in the London?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-10)
  
  I usually have problems with the light-squared bishop when Black takes it out of the pawn chain and doesn't exchange it, but instead either protects it with the e-pawn:
  
  ```
  rn1qkb1r/ppp2ppp/4pn2/3p1b2/3P1B2/3BP3/PPP2PPP/RN1QK1NR w KQkq - 0 5
  1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Bf5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 e6
  
  ```
  
  or moves it back to g6:
  
  ```
  rn1qkb1r/ppp1pppp/5nb1/3p4/3P1B2/3BP3/PPP2PPP/RN1QK1NR w KQkq - 3 5
  1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Bf5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Bg6
  
  ```
  
  If I exchange bishops, then Black will have either a very strong control of e4 to place a knight (when protected by the e-pawn), or a semi-open file for the h-rook (when in g6). If I don't exchange it, then the constant threat of Bxd3 hinders my development; I can't play the usual London moves c3, Nbd2 and my queen has to keep an eye on protecting the bishop.
  
  In all videos about the London that I've seen, it's assumed that Black will keep his light-squared behind the pawn chain or will exchange it in d3. How do you deal with it when in those other cases?
  
  **Tags:** opening, strategy, bishops, london-system
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2022-07-10. Score: 8 | Accepted answer
  
  Actually Simon Williams, the GingerGM has covered these cases in his videos on the original London System and the Jobava London.
  
  He has two suggestions.
  
  [The first](https://youtu.be/_KahCgu1u7w?t=1283) is to switch to a QGD setup with c4 followed by Nc3 and possibly Qb3 to hit both the b7 and d5 pawns. Williams covers the slightly scary looking response BxNb1 followed by Bb4+ from black and shows that white gets a perfectly good game.
  
  [The second](https://youtu.be/bPLrXjQyNFQ?t=599) is to transpose to something like a Jobava London / Veresov setup with f3. The ides here is to grab space on the kingside with g4 and possibly also h4.
  
  The key, as always in opening play, is to not play in a formulaic way just bashing out the same moves regardless of what your opponent does. Instead you need to be able to react and change your plans to take advantage of variations your opponent might play.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_2**: +1 for the final paragraph alone.  
  > **username_3**: Seconded. Whoever tries to play Bf5 against me (and I warned my whole chess club that it won't necessarily solve the usual Bc8 problem), be it in QGD or Caro-Kann or whatever, will run into a problem on b7, or the annoying Qxb3 bind, where the B stands exactly wrong  (I hope you know which system I mean), or will be molested with g4/h4 plus Ne5 in the worst case. Can't count the number of games I won thus, probably more than "regular London".  
  
  ---
  
  