Rapport-Jobava System, with e6
The London's polite bishop with a street-fighter's knight behind it: White develops normally and attacks abnormally.
The Rapport-Jobava System takes the familiar London bishop on f4 and pairs it with a knight on c3. London players are taught never to make this move, since it blocks the c-pawn. That's exactly the point. White isn't planning a slow squeeze. White is planning Nb5 jumps at c7, e4 breaks, h4-h5 pawn pushes, and castling long when the mood strikes. Baadur Jobava and Richard Rapport turned this from a curiosity into a genuine weapon against elite opposition. It filtered down to club chess almost overnight.
With 2...e6, Black picks the solid road. The light-squared bishop stays home for now. The center is firm, and c7 gets an escape hatch for the queen. The move ...Bd6 comes quickly to challenge the f4 bishop, which White's whole setup leans on. This is the grown-up response to the Jobava. Decline the brawl, trade the dangerous pieces, and aim for a normal position where White's early Nc3 looks slightly silly.
For a club player the appeal is honest labor. White gets attacking chances from move three without memorizing twenty moves of theory. Every plan (Nb5, f3 and g4, the h-pawn march) is one you can find at the board. Black's task is equally clear: trade the f4 bishop, keep the center solid, and punish White on the days the attack doesn't land.
White wants the initiative before Black finishes developing. The moves Nb5 hit c7 when it works tactically. The move e4 blows the center open with the c3 knight supporting it. Another option is the caveman setup: Qd2, long castling, and throwing the g- and h-pawns at Black's king. The f4 bishop is the anchor. When Black offers ...Bd6, White often keeps it with Bg3 or trades only on favorable terms. Don't drift into a quiet London, because the knight on c3 blocks the c-pawn and has no role in slow play.
Black with ...e6 plays solidity first. Develop with ...Nf6 and ...Bd6 to challenge the bishop that gives White's setup its bite. Keep c7 covered so the Nb5 tricks never work. If White castles long and starts throwing pawns, the counterplay comes with ...c5 and open lines on the queenside, where White's own king now lives. Trade the right pieces and White is left holding a blocked c-pawn and an attack that never happened.
At club level (1600-2000 on Lichess), this is no sideline. From the position after 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 e6, White plays 3.Bf4 47.6% of the time, nearly one game in two. The resulting position appears about 2.6 million times in the database. Black's most common replies are 3...Nf6 (31.4% of games, Black scores 48%), 3...Bd6 (17.9%, Black scores 49%) and 3...c5 (15.2%, Black scores 47%). White stays above break-even against every popular reply. Don't improvise against this system. Pick one response and know your first five moves.
Baadur Jobava — The Georgian grandmaster who made Nc3-plus-Bf4 his personal brand and proved it could beat top-level players.
Richard Rapport — Co-namesake: the Hungarian star whose creative wins with the system pushed it into mainstream repertoires.
- Family
- Rapport-Jobava System
- Category
- Closed
- First move
- 1.d4
- ECO
- D01
- Line
- 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Bf4