Taking up chess again

After five years of absence, I have been to the club again. I intend to pick up playing regularly again. I have decided to learn a new opening repertoire to refresh my look on the game. I have played the polar bear for years, but I had always troubles with the diagonal a7 g1. When black takes an early control over that diagonal I don't trust the position.

I decided to take up the London system. I really think that opening has been waiting for me all along. I ordered a book to get me started. Further I discovered the videos of ginger_gm (hat tip to Aox) and I really like how he treats the London. I think this might be the system for me to play the rest of my life. Its perfectly suited for my temperament. And what is more, I understand what I try to accomplish in the opening, for the first time. Well, that's not quite true. I did understand the polar bear reasonably well,  but I always had the feeling that the positions tended to be a bit too overstretched to my liking.

For black I played the Black Lion for years. But when white adopts the setup d4 e4 f4, I have the feeling that blacks plans fail. I don't like that feeling.

So either I should look for a method to fix blacks problems, or I can take up another defense.

I like to play the hedgehog type of positions that arises from the black lion, so I'm going to have a look at the hippopotamus defense. I'm not sure already if that will be the perfect opening for me since I know too little about it, but at first sight it looks suited for me.

What I actually need is a kind of a London system for black, but I don't know if that exists.


In fact I'm anticipating on the success of the tactical learning system that we are developing. But since all signs seem to point in the same direction, I hope that it is only a matter of time before we find the last missing piece of the puzzle . Wouldn't it be nice to be ready in case that happens? My tournament play has become very rusty due to my absence.