Semi-Open · a defense for Black
French Defense: St. George Defense
4/4
1.e4e62.d4a6
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
French Defense: St. George Defense826k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
31%258k54%
15%120k54%
7.9%66k55%
6.8%56k57%
4.4%36k51%
2.1%18k52%
2%16k54%
1.8%15k50%
1.3%11k54%
Famous games in this line254 master games
Anand, Viswanathan (2784) – Topalov, Veselin (2700)Rublevsky, S. (2702) – Nielsen, PH. (2654)Maksimovic, Bojan (2502) – Carlsen, M. (2839)Meier, Georg (2644) – Bauer, Christian (2681)Popov, Iv RUS (2592) – Fedoseev, Vl3 (2719)Sasikiran, Krishnan (2670) – Bauer, Christian (2627)Kovalenko, I. (2668) – Bernadskiy, V. (2599)Sokolov, Ivan (2625) – Bauer, Ch (2630)Heroes of this opening Rublevsky, S. · Carlsen, M.
- Family
- French Defense
- Category
- Semi-Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C00
- Line
- 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
French Defense: St. George Defense, Three Pawn Attack3.c4 · 2 deeper linesFrench Defense: St. George Defense, Sanky-George Gambit3.c4 b5 · 1 deeper lineFrench Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit3.c4 b5 4.cxb5 axb5French Defense: St. George Defense, Traditional Line3.Nf3 b5 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 Bb7 …
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
Paris challenged London by correspondence in January 1834; the match took about two years, Paris met 1.e4 with 1...e6, and Paris won. The defence has carried the name ever since. Botvinnik and Korchnoi built careers on its cramped-then-counterpunch character: concede space, then break with ...c5 or ...f6 at the right moment.
Study this opening