St. George Defense

1. e4 a6

The St. George Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 a6. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 20,626 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (42% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.48 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nf6)

ECO: B00
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/1ppppppp/p7/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. e4 a6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	8,982	51%45%
1500-1999	9,925	51%45%
2000+	1,719	50%44%
All	20,626	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. d4	8,605 (42%)	51%45%
2. Nf3	6,196 (30%)	51%45%
2. Bc4	1,968 (10%)	50%47%
2. Nc3	1,139 (6%)	49%47%
2. f4	801 (4%)	53%43%
2. d3	469 (2%)	54%42%
2. Qf3	308 (1%)	46%48%
2. e5	167 (1%)	51%46%

Master games

2,992 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 9%, Black 51%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) – Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-23
Stockfish 14_202107131735 (3639) – LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 (3623) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 21 Superfinal 2021 · 2021-07-23
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2775) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2853) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th May Late · 2023-05-09
GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 11th Jul Late · 2023-07-11
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Jul Late · 2023-07-04

Search all games of the St. George Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Sunrise34 (2894) – tengoku9 (2873) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
kuhmft (2810) – tengoku9 (2852) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
kuhmft (2809) – tengoku9 (2837) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4) 1. e4

Continuations

St. George Defense: Zilbermints Gambit B00 · 1. e4 a6 2. d4 e5
St. George Defense: Polish Variation B00 · 1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Bd3 e6
St. George Defense: San Jorge Variation B00 · 1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. Bd3 d6 5. O-O g6 6. c3 Bg7

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.