1. e4 a6;
The St George's Defense is a close relation of the French Defense which is quite rare but isn't that bad an opening to play. Black is looking to put the bishops on b7 and c5 to get strong diagonals which attack the centre and white kingside. White needs to try and take advantage of the lack of development early on in the black king side.
The normal beginning to a game involving the St George's Defense is 1. e4 a6; 2. d4 b5; 3. Nf3 Bb7; 4. Bd3 Nf6; 5. Qe2 e6; (see picture below).
From this position you will now see why it is a close relation of the French Defense. Black now has quite a few potentially good attacking possibilities now by playing c5, d5, Qb6 and Bc5 but white also has a few good attacking possibilities which if done quickly enough can spoil black's plan to get the strong diagonals.
A good move for white to play after 5....e6; is 6. a4. This move puts a triple threat on the b5 pawn. However if white was to play 7. axb5 axb5; 8. Rxa8 Bxa8; 9. Bxb5 then black can play Bxe4 winning the pawn back so this is no real danger yet for black who should now play 6....c5; White needs to stop black playing 7....c4; winning the bishop. Therefore there are two main options which are 7. dxc5 or 7. c3. The recommended move is 7. dxc5 but I think 7. c3 is also very playable by white.
After 7. c3, white has a position similar to the position they might get in a Ruy Lopez, so they should continue in a similar way to how they would in that opening.
After 7. dxc5, black recaptures the pawn by playing 7....Bxc5; (see picture below)
Although this position initially looks quite good for black with the potential moves of Qb6 and d5, white has a few options that leave black in a bit of trouble. The recommend move now for white is 8. Nbd2. This gives white the threat of playing 9. axb5 as mentioned earlier but now white is defending the pawn on e4 with an extra piece, so black can no longer take the pawn on e4. Black's best option is to just advance the pawn by playing 8....b4;
This is where white can now launch a quick attack which takes advantage of the weak black king side. The match might continue 9. e5 Nd5; 10. Ne4 Be7; 11. Bg5 O-O; and black is really struggling. White has many good attacking possibilities which black will be struggling to defend such as pushing forward the g and h file pawns for example.
Click here to go to some matches involving the St George's Defense
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