French Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5 4. cxb5 axb5
The French Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5 4. cxb5 axb5. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 40 times by this move order. White won 53%, 4% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bxb5 (98% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.81 (Stockfish, depth 27; best line 5. Bxb5 Bb7 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Qe2 Nf6)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/2pp1ppp/4p3/1p6/3PP3/8/PP3PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5 4. cxb5 axb5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 25 | |
| 2000+ | 9 | |
| All | 40 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bxb5 | 39 (98%) | |
| 5. e5 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 75%, draw 0%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Peter K Wells (2424) – FM Tim P Wall (2184) 1-0 · e2e4 Gatwick Whitsun 2016 · 2016-05-29
- FM Tsvetan Stoyanov (2388) – Janak Awatramani (2213) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 16th Feb · 2021-02-16
- Janusz Sroka (1976) – Otgonbayar Chinguun (1914) 1-0 · Ustron Open A 2023 · 2023-08-14
- Andrew Bak (1969) – Jake Hurley (1780) 1-0 · 4NCL Online S2 Div2 2020 · 2020-09-08
Search all games of the French Defense: St. George Defense, St. George Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- awerksma (2420) – kulapnit (2407) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- boboqulov55 (2253) – mattmachtmatt (2228) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- AZPILANDIA (2182) – SakiDH (2258) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: St. George Defense, Sanky-George Gambit 1. e4 e6 2. d4 a6 3. c4 b5
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.