St. George Defense 1...a6

1...a6 seems like one of the worst possible moves, but in fact it's not.

1. e4 a6 2. d4 c5!

If 3. d5 we have the Benoni. I recommend 3... e5 here. I would do some research on the Benoni.

3. Nf3 and we're in the Sicilian O'Kelly where we've avoided Alapin and Maroczy Bind. This is VERY good for black. You can do some research on this as well.

3. c3 cxd4 4. cxd4 d5 where Black gives white an IQP or gets a good version of advance French (the Bishop gets out)

3. dxc5 Qa5+ 4. Nc3 Nf6 and Black has an active position.

As you can see, 1...a6 is not so bad. It can transpose into postions from other openings that you likely would not have gotten. For example, there aren't that many e4 players that know the benoni. Most players after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 would never play d4 because black does really well.

I'm not saying 1...a6 is the best move, but it's definitely good against the unsuspecting player. You may not wanna try it in long time controls, but this could be very good in lower time controls. Also, if you know your opponent does not play or know the Benoni, this is definitely a great choice. You should at least give it a try in a blitz game or two.

P.S. Black wins over 50% of its games after 1. e4 a6 2. d4 c5 according to 365chess.com

I look at some of your games, you have potential and unfortunately you are concentrating on opening is good way to be stuck with low rating. Hypermodern is meant for advance players, even Reti said a player should start with 1.e4 and any classical defence with black piece double e-pawn 1.e4 e5, French defense or Caro-Kann, not the St.George defense. I played St. George defense before 1.e4 e6 (first) 2.d4 and now 2...a6 is the St. George defense, this not the St. George 1.e4 a6 2.d4 c5?! I don't know if play otb rated games, but you have a good chance to get a decent rating 1800 uscf someday.

That silly "Karpov" gets way to much press ?? Not half as silly as spending ones time making generic comments on openings you have NO idea about.

Personally,i have played a6 many times and have won with it,I have stopped playing because white gets an advantage in development,so really its like"baby"of all the hypermodern's,but it isn't that bad.

if you are going to play such moves, play 1. a3 as white..

I think what Fiveofswords is trying to say is that even though the opening can be playable if you know what you are doing, it is by no means the best response for black.

1..a6 is my standard opening its the best...

Your opponent will be psycologically devestated by the supsise and  completely lost without a standard response. It's a clear win for black. If the game of chess is ever solved my money is that black has a forced win after 1..a6 regardless of whites initial move.

Go forth and destroy in the name of St. George! 

Is your hearing faulty? You have no idea about what you are talking about or you would not spend so much time generated such generic nonsense based upon certain dogma on how chess ort to be played. To wit:

> im sure theres some article for beginners on chess.com that talks about the importance of development in the opening. that is quite seriously all you need to understand about the move 1 e4 a6?.<

You blithely dismiss the St. George as an opening concept based upon what? That it does not fulfil your notation of exactly what ideal development is and therefore is illogical. Already your post is predicated on a faulty premise.

> its a move that is obviously bad. now what some people dont understand is that sometimes you can play an obviously bad and illogical move without actually losing the game<

The fault with your premise is that there is a clear and logical plan behind 1…a6 (that is as it is played as the St. George). The defence is essentially a hyper-modern one and like Alekhine’s 1.e4 Nf6 involves the under mining of White’s center (advanced or otherwise) with Bc8-b7, Ng8-f6 (which then can settle on d5 somewhat safely thanks to a6 & b5 having been played should white play e5) and with e7-e6 coupled with c7-c5 (all depending on what move order one prefers). I am not going to go into specific lines, either “The Polish Defence” by Thomas Kapitaniak or Play the St. George by Michael Basman should cooperate this (basically).

As for it being “obviously bad”, I would suggest that that is a subjective consideration and as one part of your premise is incorrect I would further suggest that what is so “obvious”, might not be so.

> the only reason anyone cares about this move at all is because there existed one single game where karpov lost to it. karpov losing doesnt mean the opening was necessarily good.<

Yet another generic if not sweeping statement. I am impressed by ones level of hubris if you certainly believe that you know what anyone person cares about. Mind you are quite right when you posit that Karpov losing does not mean an opening is necessarily good. I really don’t know why people latch onto his game with Miles as an sort of an example of how to play the St. George. It has long since been known that with the move order Karpov used that 5.Qe2?! is not the best and that 5.e5 Nd5 6.Ng5! is a better option.

Finally, a couple of things. Please do note that at no time I have tried at all to posit that the St. George is any sort of wonder defence. Openings (and by extension, defences) are only as good as the person you come up against on the chess board. I needed to understand the St. George because at one time I played 1.d4 b5 quite a lot and my own personal opinion, it is at least playable (against the right opponent).

Lastly

> lol...darling...<

Well, to each his own.

I never said it was really good. I just said its a blitz opening to get an unsuspecting e4 player into the benoni, which as an e4 player he likely ident know. Obviously white can get an advantage but that's why you play it only in blitz.

Some of the people making comments should read my post and not just the comment as they assumed I was playing 2...b5. Also, I have a MUCH higher OTB rating (almost 1800) and I am willing to prove this in a longer time control game if anyone would like.

I remembered this thread when I happened across this book in the libary today and read what Nigel Short had to say about it and the Karpov game. He included this opening under his section "Black openings: Bad and indifferent." (Sorry, but there must be an error in my FEN strings since they won't display on this site.)

----------

(p. 22)
St George Defence

1 e4 a6 2 d4 b5 3 Nf3 Bb7

rn1qkbnr/1bpppppp/p7/1p6/3PP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq -  0 1

OP29

Black is concentrating here on the centre
and the queen's side--and so is asking for a
deal of trouble. Play could proceed: 4 Bd3
e6 5 O-O c5 6 c3! Here the classical pawn
centre is being maintained. Play now goes
on: 6...Be7.
   Black is now confronting problems with
contesting the centre. Black's possible
move 6...d5 cojld be followed by White
with 7 e5. This is like a bad French Defence
where the moves Black has already made
to a6 (1) b5 (2) and Bb7 (3) are virtually use-
less. 7 Re1 Nf6 8 Nbd2 O-O (see OP30).
   Grandmaster Tony Miles once beat Kar-
(p. 23)
rn1q2rk1/1b1pb3/p3pn2/1pp5/3PP3/2PB1N2/PP1N1PPP/R1BQR1K1 w - -  0 1

OP 30

pov with the St. George Defence, but I very
much doubt if there will be any more suc-
cess for this opening at Grandmaster level.
In this diagram Black's queen-side pawn
moves have enabled him to situate his
light-squared bishop on an active square.
Once more, though, the White pawn
centre is set to become the dominant
factor. White threatens to move e4 to e5
and so gain further in space and time.

Short, Nigel. Nigel Short's Chess Skills. 1989. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited.

To all who say this opening is "obviously bad", then find a line for me where white gets a big advantage. Obviously white can gain an advantage, as is the case with many opening. I want to see why this is a move that should not be played in blitz as I recommended. Show me how white can gain a big advantage and give black an unplayable game. I don't wanna hear "it doesn't develop" or " it doesn't control center", because , as I showed in my original post, I intend to go into the Benoni with ...c5 next move if white plays 2. d4. PLEASE READ MY ORIGINAL POST BEFORE RESPONDING TO THIS!!! Then, I will admit the move is "obviously bad".

IM Michael Basman scored a lot of other scalpings against strong players with the St George. The infamous Karpov-Miles game is not the only game in this opening.

That doesn't make it good though, and Basman often played from behind in his games, and many people believe he could've been a grandmaster had he not been so addicted to bizarre openings like the St George, the Grob, the Creepy Crawly, and Owen's. (By the way, check out the Immortal Waiting Move game... that's a fun one).

All I am saying is 1. e4 a6 2. d4 c5 gets black a playable game. I'm not saying it's better than say Sicilian or French; it's obviously not. All I said was that it is playable, and I will continue to say so until someone proves me wrong with an actual line.

True, with a sample size of 29 games. But then, on the very next move, with 3. Nf3, White wins over 66% of the games, with a sample size of 3 games.

I plotted the results of the most popular line of this opening per 365chess after your favorite 2...c5 variation. The wins and losses flip erratically throughout, which is an indication of a too small sample size.

...a6 is a common move in the benoni, even when white does not play c4. So you're really just in the benoni. I'm saying its playable in blitz up to about 1600. I never said it's really good, but it certainly isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Show me a line, don't decribe it, where black gets an unplayable position and then I'll agree to all the naysayers.

1.e4 a6 2.d4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.a4, and subsequent Nc3 leaving the c2 pawn at home, is better for White.  Playable for Black at 1600 level? Sure, because the position is closed and it will take some patience to realize White's space advantage.

1.e4 a6 2.d4 c5 3.c3 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.exd5 is perhaps also good for a White advantage but this is not as clear, for instance 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 leaving the pawn on d5 and just developing looks interesting.

So we've seen that white can get an advantage, but nothing that makes the opening unplayable in blitz, proving my point that 1...a6 is playable for black.

sure. but there is no point..