Battling the London System

Question

I seem to have fairly good success against the London system and the Colle using the Queen's Indian defense. Has there been any games at the Senior master level where the Queen's Indian has been used?

Answer 1

If you click yourself through the opening moves at http://chessok.com/?page_id=352 you'll find that after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 there are still 1907 games, the highest white rating is 2724 and the highest black rating is 2815.

So the queen's indian setup against the London is completely respectable and was even played by Kasparov (in some kind of internet blitz games, but still …).

This is not particularly surprising, after all it is a very solid setup vs a very solid setup. Nobody is trying to refute anybody's opening play, hard to imagine anybody would be much better/worse already.

Answer 2

I set out to answer my own question with the help of two computers. A Dell desk top using Windows 7 and a Dell laptop using Windows XP. The desktop used Deep Fritz 12 and Fritz 11 was used on the laptop. I played the London opening against Deep Fritz 12 and it appeared to use the Semi-Tarrasch. After I set-up the opening in Fritz 11, Deep Fritz 12 lost to Fritz 11. I wanted to try the Queens Indian. The second time I played the London system against Deep Fritz 12 Deep Fritz wanted to play the Grunfeld. I had to force it to play the Queens Indian. After 51 moves Fritz 11 resigned.

[Event "Blitz 45m"]
[Site "Independence"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gyr_man/Fritz 11"]
[Black "Deep Fritz 12"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[TimeControl "2700"]
[fen ""]

1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. Nf3 {0} e6 {0} 3. Bf4
{0} b6 {0} 4. e3 {0} Be7 {0} 5. h3 {16} Bb7 {3} 6. Be2 {166} d5 {217} 7. Nc3 {
154} O-O {0} 8. O-O {134} c5 {0} 9. Ne5 {186} Nc6 {0} 10. Bb5 {151} Rc8 {0} 11.
a3 {70} cxd4 {83} 12. Bxc6 {90} Bxc6 {0} 13. Nxc6 {167} Rxc6 {0} 14. exd4 {97}
Bd6 {21} 15. Qd2 {61} Bxf4 {171} 16. Qxf4 {14} Qc7 {275} 17. Qg5 {155} Ne8 {123
} 18. Rfd1 {63} Nd6 {179} 19. Qg3 {6} Rc8 {60} 20. Ra2 {66} b5 {87} 21. Qf4 {52
} a5 {131} 22. Raa1 {10} Qd8 {122} 23. Rab1 {70} h6 {39} 24. Ra1 {70} Rc4 {177}
25. g3 {12} g5 {26} 26. Qf3 {63} Kg7 {0} 27. Kg2 {39} b4 {1} 28. axb4 {63} axb4
{0} 29. Na2 {53} Rxc2 {18} 30. Nxb4 {39} Rxb2 {0} 31. Nd3 {105} Rbc2 {0} 32.
Nc5 {100} Nf5 {45} 33. Qd3 {33} Rc4 {0} 34. Rdc1 {20} Ra8 {11} 35. Rxa8 {23}
Qxa8 {0} 36. Nb3 {34} Qa4 {34} 37. Ra1 {22} Qb4 {57} 38. Ra7 {11} Qb6 {40} 39.
Ra2 {20} Qc7 {5} 40. Qd2 {0} Nxg3 {29} (40... Nxg3 {7} 41. fxg3 {41} Rc3 {0}
42. Qf2 {59} Rxb3 {0} 43. Rd2 {22} h5 {38} 44. Rb2 {39} Rxb2 {2} 45. Qxb2 {19}
h4 {17} 46. gxh4 {8} gxh4 {27} 47. Qf2 {11} Qg3+ {7} 48. Qxg3+ {33} hxg3 {0}
49. Kxg3 {14} Kg6 {1} 50. Kf3 {26} Kg5 {4} 51. Kg3 {27} Kh5 {4}) *

Answer 3

Here is another example of how to win against the London, using the Queen's Indian defense. I played the following game on line a couple of weeks ago. His rating was 1342 but I think he was better than that. I saw no blunders on his part. I will be using Deep Fritz 12 in full analysis mode, 30 seconds/move. This was a Game 30. Deep Fritz 12 did call my 22nd move a blunder, and I agree, but in my defense I was simply buying time. I wanted to stay a few minutes ahead of him on time and then begin my attack when he had less than five minutes to play.

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "New game"] [Black "?"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Deep Fritz 12 (30s)"] [PlyCount "74"]

{A46: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6: Torre, London and Colle Systems} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 {last book move} b6 (3... d5 4. g3 $11) 4. h3 {Covers g4} (4. e4 $5 $16) 4... Bb7 $11 5. a3 {Controls b4} Be7 6. Bf4 d5 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 c5 9. dxc5 (9. O-O Ne4 $11) 9... Bxc5 (9... bxc5 10. O-O $11) 10. b4 Bd6 11. Bxd6 (11. Nb5 Bxf4 12. exf4 Nc6 $11) 11... Qxd6 $15 12. Nb5 Qd7 (12... Qe7 13. Ne5 $15) 13. Ne5 {White threatens to win material: Ne5xd7} Qe7 14. O-O Nc6 15. Nxc6 Bxc6 16. Nc3 (16. c4 dxc4 17. Bxc4 Rfd8 $11) 16... Rac8 17. Rc1 Rfd8 18. Bb5 $4 { further deteriorates the position} (18. Qe1 e5 $17) 18... Bb7 (18... Ne4 $142 { and Black has prevailed} 19. Nxe4 Bxb5 $19 (19... dxe4 $6 20. Qe2 $15)) 19. Ne2 $17 a6 20. Bd3 b5 (20... e5 21. c3 $17) 21. f3 {Prevents intrusion on e4+g4} ( 21. c3 e5 $15) 21... Qc7 (21... e5 22. Bf5 Rc7 23. h4 $19) 22. c3 (22. f4 $5 $15) 22... Qb6 $17 23. Qd2 (23. Nd4 $17) 23... Qd6 $4 {releasing the pressure on the opponent} (23... Ne4 $142 {a shame that Black overlooked this excellent chance} 24. fxe4 dxe4 $19) 24. Qe1 Qb6 {Black threatens to win material: Qb6xe3 } 25. Qf2 (25. Qd2 Ne4 26. fxe4 dxe4 $19) 25... Qc6 (25... Rc7 26. Bc2 $15) 26. Rfd1 (26. Nd4 Qd6 $11) 26... Rd7 27. Nd4 {White threatens to win material: Nd4xc6} Qb6 28. Re1 Rdc7 29. Qd2 e5 {Black threatens to win material: e5xd4} 30. Ne2 (30. Nb3 $5 $15) 30... e4 31. fxe4 dxe4 32. Bb1 Rd7 33. Qc2 $4 {solves nothing} (33. Nd4 $142 $17) 33... Qxe3+ $19 34. Kh1 Qg5 (34... Rd2 $142 {makes it even easier for Black} 35. Nd4 Rxc2 36. Bxc2 $19 (36. Rxe3 $4 {White will choke on his greed} Rxc1+ 37. Kh2 Rxb1 $19)) 35. g3 (35. Rcd1 {otherwise it's curtains at once} Rd3 $1 {a fitting end to a beautiful game} 36. Ng1 $19) 35... e3+ 36. Kg1 Qd5 37. Nf4 (37. Qe4 {cannot change what is in store for ?} Nxe4 38. Nf4 Qd2 39. Rf1 e2 40. Nd5 exf1=Q+ 41. Rxf1 Bxd5 42. Rf3 Qe1+ 43. Kg2 Ng5 44. Bxh7+ Kxh7 45. h4 Bxf3+ 46. Kh2 Rd2#) 37... Qh1# 0-1