I'm trying to learn the London System

I'm trying to learn the London System. It looks very powerful, but when I tried to play it, I noticed that in the tutorials I watched, Black was always casling the king side, which never happened in my games.

What do I do when this happens? What if my opponents castle queen side?

You sound like you are memorizing and not actually understanding. When you study an opening, is all you do try to memorize reams of lines? If so, you are doing it all wrong.

You also cannot just randomly pick an opening, say "I am going to learn X" and expect to just have it all hit you instantly. You actually have to be able to explain in words what the purpose of each move is for BOTH SIDES (not just White's or Black's). Otherwise, you don't actually understand the opening and you are wasting your time.

Often, opponents are not going to play optimally. Case in point. I had a game over the board maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I was Black, and the game started 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Ne2.

If all I did was memorize lines, I would be as lost as I would be if you were up a queen. But I actually understand the French, and understood that this weakens the support of e5, and if f4, then the moment White castles he will have problems on d4 with the pin.

I shifted my attack from d4 to e5, had a completely winning position by move 18 and won in under 30 moves.

Compare that to another opening, the Grunfeld Defense. Let's take the Seville Variation. Sure, I could spew out 13 moves of theory - 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.Bc4 Bg7 8.Ne2 O-O 9.Be3 Nc6 10.O-O Bg4 11.f3 Na5 12.Bxf7+ - Great, I can spew a bunch of moves in a line. Now what? I don't know. What if Black doesn't play ...c5 at any point and goes ...Nc6? I don't know.

The positions that result from the Grunfeld make no sense to me what-so-ever. This is why I do not ever play 2.c4 against 1...Nf6 any more. I can play 1.Nf3 and transpose to a Kings Indian or QGD, but avoid the Grunfeld and Nimzo. I have an anti-grunfeld line after 1.Nf3 or 1.c4. I sometime respond to 1...d5 with 2.c4. But I avoid the Grunfeld like the plague from both sides because I know that I do not understand it.

It may be that you don't understand the London. The openings that I truly understand are limited. Queen's Gambit lines (orthodox, Slav, accepted), Kings Indian, Dutch, French, Petroff, etc and specifically avoid those I don't understand and acknowledge that I don't understand them. They would be mostly the Alekhine and Grunfeld - openings with the Mobile pawn center for White.

@thrillerfan Alekhine and Grunfeld openings are fun. Grunfeld himself thought 1 e4 was weak and the Alekhine should be used. 1 e4 Nf6 is highly effective. Grunfeld had a desire to create a new queen pawn defense and his line is incredibly dynamic. Your understanding that they have mobile pawn centers is the beginning of being able to play them. I would love to see you play them.

The Grunfeld is about timing. It is essential to figure when to counterattack. Admittedely, it is delicate. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 f3 is also a good Anti-Grunfeld.

My point exactly!

Everyone is different. Clearly you sound like a fan of the mobile center. Most people I know that like those positions hate the blocked center (French, Kings Indian, Czech Benoni).

This is why I say if the OP is having trouble with the London, it may be that his thought process and the London don't mix. It will mix for some and not for others.

This is also why when I see posts about "What is your favorite opening?", I just shake my head. Just because I like the Petroff, Dutch, and French doesn't mean everybody will. So asking me that is ridiculous. So you try to learn the French because someone else plays it?

Yours and my situation just proves that. You clearly love the Alekhine and Grunfeld. I hate them more than a root canal. And I am sure there are plenty out there that hate the Trompowsky, English, Sokolsky, Petroff, Dutch, or French, basically my primary repertoire if you combine White (the first 3) and Black (the last 3).

The Sokolsky was my primary opening in 2008-2009, 2014, and mid-2022 to mid-2024. Now I mainly use it for over the board blitz events.

I like the Vienna as White and the Budapest as Black.

@ThrillerFan thank you so much! I will try my best to understand the London, so far I get that it's purpose is to control the center of the board, but that's about it.

Every non-hypermodern opening is about controlling the center, so what you said says nothing.

Do you think the London is a "close your eyes and play these 7 moves no matter what and open them" opening? If so,you will fail.

If you think advice and lines from here will help, You're dreaming.

Do you think the London is just d4, Bf4, e3, Nf3, h3, Nbd2, and Bd3 if no fianchetto by black and Be2 if a fianchetto defense is played? If so, you are already clueless, and many sub-2000 players think this way when they play the London.

There are many cases where h3 is a complete waste of time.

There are cases where c4 is far superior to c3.

There are cases where h4 is strong (and hence h3 a waste of time.

There are cases where the London System is just outright bad (Modern Defense) as the point of the London (control e5) is impossible to do against the Modern.

What you need to do is get out a physical board and pieces (not a computer screen - avoid all engines) and the book The London System in 12 Practical Lessons (Do not recall Author's last namre, I think his first is Oscar - published by New in Chess and the cover is yellow) and seriously study it without a biased mind. Actually try to UNDERSTAND both White's AND BLACK's ideas.

If you study properly and with regularity - at least 4 times a week for an hour each, this should take you a good 6 months. Don't just parrot the moves. Sit there and actually try to understand each move.

This is how you study an opening. Don't expect legitimate theoretical advice from a bunch of 1000 to 1500 level scrubs, and an over the board 2000 player, like myself, can give you legitimate advice, but even 2000 is too weak to spoon-feed you the information. A 2000 player can lead you to water, but cannot make you drink. I have given you the path to succeed with the London. It is now you that must decide to actually put in the work.

Yes,

(1) you try to control te center.

And

(2) you develop your pieces asap!

(3) you castle, for a beginner also asap!

Those three priciples are called the 'opening principles'. If you google them you get those three, sometimes with a few aditions (touch every piece only once, don't start an attack before all your pieces are out, connect your rooks).

So for the London that would be:

1. d4, controls the centre;

2. Bf4, develops a piece and points to the centre;

3. c3 strengthens your centre controlling d4 pawn, points to the centre and makes an opening for your light-squared bishop to develop;

4. Nf3, develops a piece, points to the centre, prepares short castle;

5. Bd3, develops a piece, points to the centre, prepares short castle;

6. 0-0, yes, you castled, principle 3 has ben done!

7. Nbd2, develops your last minor pieces, points to the centre.

Now you have applied almost all the opening principles. Finish with c3 to strengthen your d4 pawn and Qe2 to connect your rooks and the only thing you have to do to win the game is make sure you make your rooks effective too!

Of course black is not gonna allow all those moves and sometimes you have to deviate from the opening principles, for example to avoid one of your pieces being captured. But even if you have to deviate, stay as close to the principles as you can.