Zukertort Opening: St. George Defense
1. Nf3 a6
The Zukertort Opening: St. George Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO A04, reached after 1. Nf3 a6. It is a line of the Zukertort Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 996 times by this move order. White won 51%, 5% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 2. d4 (27% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.39 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 2. e4 c5 3. c4 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4)
- ECO
- A04
- Moves
- 2 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/1ppppppp/p7/8/8/5N2/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. Nf3 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 377 | |
| 1500-1999 | 434 | |
| 2000+ | 185 | |
| All | 996 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2. d4 | 264 (27%) | |
| 2. g3 | 234 (23%) | |
| 2. e4 | 191 (19%) | |
| 2. c4 | 96 (10%) | |
| 2. Nc3 | 71 (7%) | |
| 2. e3 | 41 (4%) | |
| 2. d3 | 28 (3%) | |
| 2. b3 | 24 (2%) |
Master games
430 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 9%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- GM Vincent Keymer (2690) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 0-1 · Titled Tue 4th Jul Late · 2023-07-04
- GM Vincent Keymer (2693) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2725) 1-0 · Julius Baer GenCup Prelim · 2022-09-21
- GM Jaime Santos Latasa (2628) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2789) 0-1 · Titled Tue 23rd Apr Late · 2024-04-23
- GM Rasmus Svane (2625) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2787) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Jul Late · 2023-07-11
- GM Vladislav Artemiev (2700) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2704) 1-0 · Titled Tue 22nd Mar Late · 2022-03-22
Search all games of the Zukertort Opening: St. George Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Guary1 (2820) – GM sillyMASTER (2809) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- THE_NUCLI (2525) – FM Karlos_ulsk (2625) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Bebas_BKD (2492) – QuCq (2641) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Zukertort Opening (1. Nf3) 1. Nf3
More Zukertort Opening lines (all)
- Zukertort Opening: Arctic Defense A04
- Zukertort Opening: Arctic Defense, Drunken Knight Variation A04
- Zukertort Opening: Basman Defense A04
- Zukertort Opening: Black Mustang Defense A04
- Zukertort Opening: Drunken Cavalry Variation A04
- Zukertort Opening: Dutch Variation A04
- Zukertort Opening: Herrstrom Gambit A04
- Zukertort Opening: Kingside Fianchetto A04
- Zukertort Opening: Lisitsyn Gambit A04
- Zukertort Opening: Lisitsyn Gambit Deferred A04
- Zukertort Opening: Pirc Invitation A04
- Zukertort Opening: Polish Defense A04
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.