St. George's Defense is OK!

Kasparov Lost in this match

I play the Andersen and transpose it into a polish with b4.

Much better than the st george

What an ancient thread...

1...a6 isn't horrible if Black responds with 2...e6, but 2...b5 cannot be recommended at all. Black assumes unnecessary weaknesses after 3 a4! b4 4 Nd2 followed by 5 Bd3, then c4 if black insists on playing ....e6 and ...Bb7, but if Black plays ...e6 and then ...c5, White just gets a nice space advantage by 5 Bd3 c5 6 dxc5 Bxc5 7 e5 Bb7 8 Qg4.

The normal counter to a move like 7 e5 is the obvious 7...d6?, but this just speeds up White's development due to 8 Qf3 (tempo) Ra7 9 Qg3 (another tempo!) dxe5 10 Qxe5 (and again another tempo, attacking the hanging knight on b8) Nd7 11 Qxg7 Qf6 12 Qg3! and White is not only up a pawn, but also has a position free of weaknesses. So 7...d6 is relegated to the trash heap.

So back to 7...Bb7 8 Qg4 g6 9 Ngf3 and only now 9...d6 (Black has nothing better) 10 Be4! ...d5 (now that the center is closed, Black has no counterplay on e5, note that 10... Bxe4? 11 Nxe4 is almost losing for Black: 11...Nd7 12 Be3 Nxe5 13 Nxe5 Bxe3 14 Nxf7, and Black is virtually lost).

Now 11 Bd3 is just a standard +/- position where Black lacks a concrete plan, and has to deal with the weaknesses he created and the effect of White's cramping pawn on e5.

So now we proved that the central thrust ...c5 does not solve Black's opening problems, so he has to allow 5...Bb7 6 c4, and White has options of getting a big center with f4 next (against ...g6, for example).

Using a modern engine, rather than one from when this thread was created) really shows just how weak certain opening systems really are.