How to beat the Jobava London

The Jobava London (Lichess calls it the Rapport-Jobava System) is 1.d4, Nc3 and Bf4: a London with the knight on c3 instead of a pawn on c3. It's aggressive and trendy online, with Nb5 jumps at c7 and fast kingside attacks, and most club players have never prepared for it.

Three plans that work

1. Take b5 away from the knight

White's main trick is Nb5 hitting c7, often backed by Bf4. A timely ...a6 or ...c6 kills it; check for Nb5 every move until you've played one of them.

2. Hit d4 with ...c5

With the knight on c3, White can't support d4 with c3 like in a normal London. ...c5, ...Nc6 and ...Qb6 or ...Qa5 put real pressure on d4 and b2.

3. Trade the f4 bishop

...Bd6 offers a trade of White's best piece. If White avoids it, the bishop has to commit, and the set-up loses much of its punch.

A line to play

1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 a6

The pitfall

Castling kingside on autopilot. Jobava players often push h4-h5 or go for Nb5 tricks; have your ...c5 counterplay going before White's attack arrives.

What the data says

Facing the Jobava London as Black, the titled players scored 62% in 70 games (their average as Black: 62%). That's about their average.

Most common variations, and how Black scored

Variation (Lichess name)	Games	Black's score
Rapport-Jobava System	70	62%

Titled players who play it most: GM Night-King96 (13 games, 77%), GM MahammadMuradli2003 (6 games, 58%).

Data: 13,865 recent rated games of 100 top titled Lichess players (mostly blitz and bullet), fetched from the public Lichess API on 2026-10-18. Scores are the titled player's (win = 1, draw = ½). Across all their games as Black they scored 62%, so compare against that, not 50%.

Prepare against the actual player

Averages only go so far. A Jobava London player has their own pet variations and weak spots. Before your next game, get a free fingerprint of your opponent, or get the full prep report ($5): every variation they play, where they score worst, and a game plan for both colours.