I used it to beat a friend of mine who was TOTALLY confident in his Queen's Gambit. I told him I could play a move with Black on move 1 that would shock him...1. d4 b5!? He practically gasped when I played it, and after 2. e3 a6, I slowly converted into a win. It is great to get people out of book, especially if you are creative, but you do concede a bit of central control. If you can handle attacking from the flanks, it is a great choice.
The Killer St. George
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Very interesting posts. I have to put some thought into this before I come across it, thanks. Who knows, maybe I will even play it a little my self :-)
Masters and above don't like it and I don't think it's very convincing either. Basically it takes two moves to set up a queen's fianchetto (and remember early queenside fianchettoes especially by black tend to cede space and central control) which is slightly more agressive than just playing b6. I do agree that it might be good once and a while for suprise value because it is not at all terrible as long as black does not get overrun by white's pawns and center. I suppose black wants queenside and central play? with an a6, b5, and c5 structure black could control the queenside as well as central and kingside squares with the queen's bishop. Still, this takes time and white should have somewhat better chances. However it would be very wrong to assume that a6 is a bad move just because it moves a pawn on the edge of the board. Is that what black does?
Well put. Opponent attacks on the wing? Counter in the center.
If white knows what he is doing, then black will not fully equalize. However, if white thinks black is fooling around, then black will set up a fianchetto and get a monster bishop on b7, as well as lots of queenside space.
White will have serious difficulties keeping his center intact. If White ever plays e5, then the knight on f6 goes to d5 and the demolition of the center begins. I do agree that White will have a slight advantage, but it really isn't enough to convincingly score a full point with accurate play from both sides. The St. George is a hypermodern opening. Actually, it could be thought of as a reversed Orangutan.
Here is the St George's first grab of the headlines.
Very interesting game that you posted! Thanks Phil_from_Blayney :-)
This brought the opening to the major spotlight. I am sure Karpov had a poor night's sleep after that one.
The amusing part, for me at least, is that Karpov was interviewed after the game and of course asked why he lost. His answer was a very dismissive, "1...a6? Where does that rubbish come from!" or words to that effect. He must have struck fear into the reporter/s that asked the initial question as my next question would be "Have you forgotten that you lost the game?" :)
I think it is possible that he did not prepair as well as he should have, and it got him into trouble. (It definitely sounds like he did not think much of it.) I am curious as to how he did the next time against this opening, heh.
Only the one instance of Karpov ever facing this opening or even some close alternatives.
I recently have become very fascinated with the St. George Defense. (e4 a6 d4 b5) And it works against d4 (d4 b5 e4 a6) I beat a decent opponent quite convincingly with it and it has a lot of surprise value. Does anybody have any experience with the St. George? I know a lot of the themes, but would appreciate somebody helping me out. Also, if you don't know that much about the St. George, what do you think of it?