King's Pawn Game - Uncommon Continuations

Uncommon Continuations

Apart from these eight responses, all other replies from Black are covered together in ECO chapter B00 ("Uncommon King's Pawn Opening"). A few of these are not entirely obscure, and have received extensive analysis.

• 1... Nc6 is the Nimzowitsch Defence. After 2.d4, there are two distinctive main lines: 2...e5, favored by British grandmaster Tony Miles, and 2...d5, introduced and often played by the influential Latvian-Danish player and writer Aron Nimzowitsch (1886–1935).
• 1... b6 is Owen's Defense, preparing to develop Black's bishop to b7 to put pressure on White's center.
• 1... a6 is the St. George Defence. Black prepares to advance on the queenside with 2...b5, but allows White to occupy the center with 2.d4. The opening gained some attention after Miles used it to defeat Anatoly Karpov in 1980.
• 1... g5 is the Borg Defence ("Grob" backwards) or Basman Defence, often played by IM Michael Basman. The move weakens the kingside severely, but according to Modern Chess Openings (MCO), Black is only somewhat worse.