French Defense: St. George Defense, Sanky-George Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5
The French Defense: St. George Defense, Sanky-George Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 117 times by this move order. White won 46%, 5% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 4. cxb5 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.67 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. Nc3 Bb7 5. a3 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/2pp1ppp/p3p3/1p6/2PPP3/8/PP3PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 22 | |
| 1500-1999 | 78 | |
| 2000+ | 17 | |
| All | 117 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. cxb5 | 49 (42%) | |
| 4. c5 | 36 (31%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 11 (9%) | |
| 4. b3 | 8 (7%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 5 (4%) | |
| 4. d5 | 4 (3%) | |
| 4. f4 | 2 (2%) | |
| 4. a3 | 2 (2%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- awerksma (2420) – kulapnit (2407) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- luncur_CSI (2304) – SakiDH (2247) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
- boboqulov55 (2253) – mattmachtmatt (2228) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
French Defense: St. George Defense, Three Pawn Attack 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4
Continuations
- French Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5 4. cxb5 axb5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.