[quote author=Michael Ayton link=1165888029/0#0 date=1165888029]There are not too many Forum threads on the St George so I thought I’d open a new one. I’ve been having a look at some of the critical(?) lines and would be interested to hear people’s views.

One key question, I guess, is whether one should see the point of the defence as being to reach ‘Basman Gambit’ positions, or whether other lines are just as reasonable for Black. The Gambit is typically (usually?) reached via 1 e4 a6 2 d4 e6!? 3 c4 b5 4 cb ab 5 Bb5 Bb7. Does anybody know what best play is meant to be here and what the current assessment is? As a related question, after 1 e4 a6 2 d4 b5!? 3 c4 (or 1 d4 a6 2 c4 b5 3 e4), is 3 …Bb7 inferior, or not?

My second question concerns the main-line position reached after 1 e4 a6 2 d4 b5 3 Nf3 Bb7 4 Bd3 Nf6 5 Nbd2!? c5 6 c3 e6 7 0-0 (which can also be reached via 2 …e6 3 Nf3 b5 4 Bd3 Bb7 5 0-0 c5 6 c3 Nf6 7 Nbd2!? or 1 d4 b5!? 2 e4 Bb7 3 Nd2!? a6 4 Ngf3 e6 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nf6 7 0-0). Jonathan Tisdall on ChessPub now suggests 7 …Nc6, 7 …cd or 7 …d5 (7 …Be7?! 8 Re1 Nc6 9 e5!), but Black’s results here have been poor. What might be the attractions of this line for Black? I notice Csom (and Spassky) have tried …d6 plans here (both before and after …Nf6/…c5) and wonder if this is an interesting approach – the same set-up is obviously possible in the Owen’s, and while presumably White is slightly better in both cases maybe the edge isn’t serious?

Two final queries: should Black be worried about 1 e4 a6 2 d4 b5 3 Nf3 Bb7 4 e5!? (4 …e6 5 Bd3 c5) or 1 d4 b5 2 e4 Bb7 3 Bb5!? Be4 4 Nf3?
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Basman wrote two books about the Saint-George. One of them (the oldest) is [color=#339999][b][i]Play the St. George[/i][/b][/color] and was edited by Pergamon Press in 1983. Did you read it?
Basman did not found the Gambit so bad at all.
For the main line Basman recommended playing 7...Qb6 where 8. a4 is critical. He did not like 7...-Nc6 because of 8.d5 but thought that[b] 7...-Be7[/b] preparing Nc6 or [b]7...h6[/b] preventing white light square bishop to go to Bg5, were both playable.

Hello Michael,

the St.Georg !?

Hmm,...I played this stuff exclusively with black & white...many years!
The problem with the St.Georg is that with black you will find out, that with the best lines versus good players it is very hard to win. I practiced this stuff on ICCF masterclass level versus 2400 and better players with great success...draw! So let me say: the St.Georg is absolutely OK when you know the best lines...to hold the Basman book in your hands is not enough. As i said, the result of your study will be, that most time you have to be very creative to earn a draw. This is why i switched to the OWEN, here you mostly reach the key positions. And in combination with the ENGLISH DEFENCE the OWEN suits better...

Yes, the Basman Gambit ...b5 Bb5 Bb7...is nice, I guess here in our database is a very nice game!!!

Finally: it is not fun to work hard versus a player who is 200 ELO weaker to reach a DRAW with the St.George, but to learn the lines of the St.George is not a bad thing for an OWEN fan.

Michael, best wishes for X-mas and a GUTEN RUTSCH INS NEUE JAHR 2007 

SutterCane