St.George's defence may transpose to a great number of various openings, incl. various Sicilian setups (mainly O'Kelly, which in turn transposes often to Najdorf or to other widely tested system), or Benko (or Volga) declined . If white is considering playing Ruy Lopez or Spanish opening, it prevents the standard attack (3.Bb5). However, it neglegts the center of the board (d5,e4,d4,e5) and slows down flank (fianchetto) development. Still, it is not considered unsound.

Karpov vs Miles, 1980

I've played a few dozen games with it, and the main challenge for black has been holding enough space in the center without weakening the pawn structure. Black faces a risk of straight-on kingside assault due to the difficulty of transposing pieces to the kingside.

I've had some interesting games castling queenside. Though white can open up the position with moves like a4, black has an easy enough time covering the king without full pawn coverage. In the meantime, black can gain space with kingside pawn advances attacking the center.

Funny you should say, since you like the King's Indian Defence, a hypermodern opening that has been criticized since the 1920s onwards as an opening that gives white too much leeway in the center and a number of attractive setup options. (at the very top tier of chess, it has been abandoned wholesale in favor of the Nimzo-Indian, Slav, and other openings) However, its many endorsers play it for the counterattacking and counterpunching opportunities, waiting for white to overextend or let his guard down. So too with the Owen's, the Pirc, and indeed the Robatsch, Modern, the Grunfeld, and other such openings. With the Owen's black plays ...e6, ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and depending on the position, ...Nf6 or ...c5 or a Nge7 followed by a ...f5 break.

However, it's true that black takes more liberties in solidity with the Owen's than other hypermodern openings. Black runs a real risk of getting overrun or being saddled with insufficient counterplay. It has its champions, though, including Miles, Basman, and the titular Reverend of history himself. 1) ...b6 used to be a trendy response to the English Opening, however, played by many IMs/GMs.

The Owen's Defence is the subject of a cutting edge theory book recently published by Christian Bauer:

7. O-O cd 8. cd d5 (only after the exchange of pawns is this push called for) 9. e5 Nfd7. Black will then trade off his bad bishop with ...Ba6 (10. Qe2 a5) and seek play along the C-file. Black can also try this at move eight (8. ... Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. e5 Nd5 11. Ne4 O-O is one possible line).

Admittedly, it isn't the cosiest of black middlegame positions. However as long as black resfrains from ...d5 until the right moment the pawn structure remains more fluid & Sicilian-esque in nature (The Kan/Paulsen systems) instead of an inferior French. These are the ideas at play, anyway.

[White "DeepBlade"]
[Black "NN"]
[BlackElo "1688"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Event "InstantChess"]

Here's what not to do: 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. f4 Ng6. Things get too cramped and I don't see compensation. 3...Nxe5 is ok, but I don't really like the look of it so much. So after a tiny bit of research, I find that there are 4 gambits I could play. Any thoughts on 3...Bc4, 3...Qh4, 3...d6, or, the one I like the look of best, 3...f6?

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.a3 d5 5.exd5 exd5 6.Qe2 Be7 7.Bg5 Nd7 8.o-o-o Nf6 9.Nf3 o-o

But if instead of 9.Nf3 White plays 9.Re1; and now castling must be postponed else White wins a piece. So how about:

7...Ba6 8.Qe3 Bxf1 9.Kxf1 c6 and now if 10.Re1, Black has 10...h6 11.Bh5 g5 12.Bg3 f5! 13.f4 g4 14.h3 Nf6 and now Black can play ...Kf7 instead of castling.

If instead 10.Qe2 then I think 10...Kf8 would be best. There are a number of lines from there, but for example: 11.Bxe7+ Qxe7 12.Re1 Nd7 13.Nf3 f6

This may seem a little passive, but it's important to prevent White from getting a passed pawn by moving the knight to e5 (attacking the c6 pawn). Then perhaps:

14.g3 Qxe2 15.Rxe2 Kf7 16.Kg2 Re8 17.Rhe1 Rxe2 18.Rxe2 Nh6

There may be more inspired replies by Black here.

<Ganstaman> suggested that White play 4.Bd3 (instead of a6) and 5.e5 to cramp Black. Here's an attempt to reply to that line:

After 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bd3 d5 5.e5 c5 6.Be3 (with the idea of o-o-o and leaving the f-pawn unblocked by a knight), Black has: 6...cxd4 7.Bxd4 Nc6 8.Bb5 (8.Be3?? d4 and Black has won a piece) 8...a6 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 and White has been forced to give up his light-squared bishop for a queen's knight, while Black's light squared bishop now has control of a critical diagonal and new points of egress.

If instead 6.Nf3, White's f-pawn is blocked in; but after 6...cxd4 7.Nxd4 Bc5 8.Be3 Bxd4 9.Bxd4 Nc6 10.Bb5 (see above re 10.Be3??) 10...a6 11.Bxc6 Bxc6 and White's center isn't all that impressive anymore. One possible continuation: 12.f4 Ne7 13.Qd2 Nf5 14.o-o-o h5 15.h3 16.h4 and Black has a nice outpost for his knight.

I'm only a beginning/intermediate player. Just some ideas, not a systematic analysis (if there is such a thing). Very possibly I've overlooked something -- more than one thing.

What about 3...Qh4 and now Black is attacking the e4 pawn with his queen and the e5 pawn with his knight? Black is bound to get his pawn back one way or another. Try a search at chessbase.com using the Chess Database for these first three moves. I see 5 wins for White, 3 wins for Black, and two draws.

I see though that we've had some misunderstanding before: <<Ganstaman> suggested that White play 4.Bd3 (instead of a6) and 5.e5 to cramp Black.>

I actually want Bd3 instead of Nc3. That knight can be developed later, probably to d2 (after the dark square bishop is let loose). This allows the pawn chain b2-c3-d4-e5 to be formed, or at least b2-c3-d4 (pawns support d4, pieces support e4).

I'll have a look at that 3.Bd3 thing shortly.

M Cazelais vs A Skripchenko-Lautier, 2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacLeo...

From now on, I will adopt this nomenclature. Note that it should NOT be called a Hippopotamus.

[Event "www.ChessWorld.net server game"]
[Site "www.ChessWorld.net "]
[Date "2007.2.6"]
[Round "NA"]
[White "darthplutonius"]
[Black "knight fighter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Termination "Black king mated"]
[WhiteElo "1693"]
[BlackElo "1227"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[DateLastMove "2007.2.27"]
[ECO "B00"]
[Board "3364960"]