The "St. George Defense,"
a.k.a
"Baker's Defense"

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You may or may not benefit from my analysis.
Of course, suggestions and analysis are invited from those who opt to use this defense. We present lines from actual games as well as theoretical lines. Just send mail !

I have not assumed any knowledge of the opening, and, in fact, I've assumed very little knowledge of tactics or position play (no doubt because I have little knowledge of them). Footnotes are found, surpisingly, at the right of the page in which they appear.

The St. George defense is indicated by Black playing a6 and b5 very early in the opening, frankly on the first two moves, but perhaps only within the first four. It is not a traditional opening, as it apparently leaves White the center, but the early queenside thrust is not without benefit, and it can provide dynamic play. Thematic keys for Black are the placement of the Bishop on b7 (although that move can, and often should, be delayed, or even not played at all!), an eventual d5 break (even when apparently premature), making an opening for the King's Bishop by playing e6 (again, a move that can de delayed), an attempt to exchange the King's Bishop, nudging a pawn to c6 to aid in queenside pawn swaps, a general willingness to push queenside pawns, rook-swaps, and a lack of concern for the Queen's Knight, who can sit quietly at home in the early going, sometimes staring down the row at his kingside counterpart.

The purest position would unfold as follows:
1) e4 a6
2) d4 b5
Very clear here is that White intends to dominate the center and Black intends to counter with a queenside thrust, at the cost of early center work.
This position may obviously arise through transposition from,
1) d4 b5
2) e4 a6
Of course, this is also a known line of the Polish Defense, which has a slightly better reputation than does the St. George. Anatoly Karpov praises it with it faint damns when he says, "[The Polish Defense] is not so bad."¹
See our collection of St. George/Polish Defense games here.

One must avoid the mistake of
1) e4 b5
which simply loses a pawn and causes one to scramble for a name for this "new" gambit. "Uh, yes...that's the "Krapsky" sacrifice...Haven't you played against it yet?"

One should also be aware of the following sequence,
1) g3 b5
2) Bg2 Nc3
This should be enough to protect the rook early on. The mindless continuation of
1) g3 b5
2) Bg2 a6
would, of course, lose a rook quickly to Bxa8. But more on this line later. One last "trap" to beware:
e4 a6
d4 b5
c4 bxc4
Bxb4 Bb7??
Qb3
and the Black Bishop is lost in lieu of checkmate. Refusing the pawn is best, although ...e6 instead of ...Bb7 is tolerable, as long as you're not greedy about the pawn.

Having alerted you to these early blunders, let's look at an example game, taken from actual play (correspondence).
The St. George is similar to several other openings, and we comment upon the similarities here.
Continue

Some more good links about Baker's Defense:

wikipedia
as always be aware of
bad info with this site!

nice intro