Jobava London System: Complete Guide

Named after its best-known practitioner, the Jobava London System gives White a 1. d4 opening built on two early developing moves, the queen’s knight to c3 and the dark-squared bishop to f4. Its reference position is 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4, and Black’s third move decides what kind of game follows. Against 3...Nc6 or 3...e6 the knight heads for b5 to hit c7, a square the f4-bishop already watches; against 3...Bf5 or 3...c6 White’s g- and h-pawns go after the bishop; against 3...c5 the answer is e4. A careless reply can drop a pawn or more before move ten, and a careful one still has to deal with a kingside pawn storm later.

At club level the traps matter as much as the theory. In lichess games between players rated roughly 1000 to 1600, about one in four opponents answers 3. Bf4 with 3...Nc6, and White scores around 62% after it, higher than after any other common reply. This page and its trainer cover the 2. Nc3 plus Bf4 system only. If you want the classical setup with 2. Bf4 and the c3-d4-e3 pawn triangle, that is Chessigma’s separate London System course; the two share the bishop and very little else.

Play 1. d4 and, after 1...d5, bring out the knight first with 2. Nc3, then the bishop with 3. Bf4 once Black has played 2...Nf6. Many opponents never allow that exact position: in club games more than half of Black players answer 2. Nc3 with something other than 2...Nf6, most often 2...e6 (about one in five), 2...Nc6 (about one in seven), 2...c6 or an early 2...Bf5. Against most of them White still plays 3. Bf4 next and keeps the Nb5 and e4 ideas in reserve; only the early central strikes 2...c5 and 2...e5 get a different answer (3. e4 and 3. dxe5), and in the trainer’s lines both win material. There is also a door from 1...Nf6: after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 you are back in the same position. Be aware that 1...Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 and 2...e6 lead to different openings that this system does not reach.

If you meet the Jobava London as Black, the club numbers point to the safe replies. White scores about 62% after 3...Nc6 but only 51 to 52% after 3...e6 or 3...a6, so the knight on c6 is the move to skip, above all with 4...e5 after 4. Nb5. The trainer shows where Black’s games go wrong: after 4...e5 5. Bxe5 Nxe5 6. dxe5, both knight retreats, 6...Nd7 and 6...Ne4, cost two or three pawns; against a setup with ...c6 and ...Bd6, a knight on e5 can jump into f7; and a bishop on f5 chased by g4 and h4 can end up trapped on e4. If you choose 3...e6, decide in advance how you will meet 4. Nb5: ...Bd6 gives White the bishop pair, and ...Na6 puts a knight on the rim. You can also avoid the system with 1...Nf6 and, after 2. Nc3, 2...g6 or 2...e6.

Some databases file it as the Rapport-Jobava System, after two grandmasters: the Georgian Baadur Jobava, who made 2. Nc3 with Bf4 a regular weapon and gave a rare move order an identity of its own, and the Hungarian Richard Rapport, who took it up as well. At club level it is still a minority choice: in lichess games between players rated about 1000 to 1600, 2. Nc3 comes in roughly one game in eleven after 1. d4 d5. You will meet it most in fast online games, and it suits players who like the London’s bishop but want sharper positions. On Chessigma it is the companion to the London System course, which covers the 2. Bf4 move order.

What is the Jobava London System?

It is a 1. d4 opening for White in which the queen’s knight goes to c3 and the dark-squared bishop to f4 in the first three moves, usually 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4. Against the most common club reply, 3...Nc6, the knight can already go to b5 on move four and threaten Nxc7+, and from c3 it also backs an e4 push. Which plan you follow from there depends on Black’s third move.

Is the Jobava London good for beginners?

Yes, as long as you learn the key lines. Its ideas are easy to remember (hit c7 with Nb5, chase a bishop on f5 with g4, push the h-pawn against a fianchetto), and the most common club replies run into prepared traps. In games between players rated about 1000 to 1600, White scores around 62% after 3...Nc6, which about one opponent in four plays. It asks for more concrete knowledge than the 2. Bf4 London, so drill the lines before you rely on it in rated games.

Jobava London or London System: how are they different?

Both put a bishop on f4, but the London plays 2. Bf4 and builds a c3-d4-e3 pawn triangle, while the Jobava London plays 2. Nc3 first. The knight blocks the c-pawn, so the triangle has to wait, and in exchange the knight can land on b5 and hit c7, and e4 becomes a real break. In the London you build much the same setup against almost everything; in the Jobava London, Black’s third move picks the plan: the c7 fork against ...Nc6, Nxd6+ and the bishop pair against ...e6 and ...Bd6, the Bd3 swap against ...Bf5, g4 and h4 against ...c6, and the h-pawn against a fianchetto. Chessigma teaches them in two separate courses.

What is the main line of the Jobava London?

The reference position is 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bf4. At club level the most common replies are 3...Nc6, 3...e6, 3...Bf5 and 3...a6. A central main line is 3...e6 4. Nb5 Bd6 5. Nxd6+ cxd6, where White has the bishop pair and a comfortable game after e3, Nf3 and c3. Against 3...Bf5, the trainer plays 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 and trades light-squared bishops with Bd3.

Which Jobava London trap should you learn first?

The fork on c7 after 3...Nc6 4. Nb5 e5. White plays 5. Bxe5 Nxe5 6. dxe5 and then takes on d5 with the queen. If Black retreats 6...Ne4, the queen trade on d5 lets the knight check on c7 and hit king and queen at once, and White ends three pawns up; if Black plays 6...Nd7, 7. Qxd5 c6 8. Nd6+ Bxd6 9. Qxd6 leaves White two pawns up and Black unable to castle. The same Bxe5 and dxe5 idea also appears after 2...Nc6 and 2...e6 move orders.

How can Black beat the Jobava London?

Start by not handing White the easy games: 3...Nc6 4. Nb5 e5 loses a pawn or more by force, and it is the most common way club players lose to this opening. Steadier tries are 3...e6, where you accept Nxd6+ and doubled d-pawns, or 3...a6, after which the trainer answers with e3 and an early g4. Watch a bishop on f5 once White’s g- and h-pawns start moving. To sidestep the system entirely, start with 1...Nf6 and meet 2. Nc3 with 2...g6 or 2...e6.