My Chess Pet the Sicilian Dragon

I'd like to show here an online game of mine where I experimented on a new way to play the opening. This is to illustrate that Black in the Accelerated Dragon do indeed can sometimes afford to be creative.

We start the comparison by looking at the Classical Dragon scenario first with the following moves:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6
6. Be3 Bg7
7. f3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nc6
9. O-O-O d5 (see diagram on the right)

Current theory suggest this pawn thrust to d5 for Black. If we look at the current position, we notice that White has already castled on the queenside when Black moved his pawn to d5.

Now, let's look at some games which tackled this position so as to see how Black is coping:

How to view games using Chess Viewer Deluxe

Having viewed the games at this point, we saw that it's not entirely bad results for Black. But surely results can be so much better if the pawn thrust to d5 by Black can come earlier before White has castled on the queenside. Black can only do this if he has saved a tempo from not moving his d-pawn twice (to d6 and again on d5). Thus the Accelerated Dragon move-order was invented for Black, particularly against the Yugoslav Attack move order.

So let us now examine the resulting position via Accelerated Dragon move-order as per introduction above:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 g6
5. Nc3 Bg7
6. Be3 Nf6
7. f3 O-O
8. Qd2 d5 (see diagram on the right)

Now in this position, where the ...d5 pawn-push was executed by Black, we immediately notice that White hasn't castled yet. In effect, Black is playing the position a tempo up compared to the Classical Dragon above, and should be better for him.

My special thanks to Nikolai Pilafov, blogger of Chess Web Publishing, for creating and sharing this game viewer, Chess Viewer Deluxe.

The Sicilian Defence, 1.e4 c5, yields more win for Black than others. source: gameknot.com

As one of the mainline variation of the Sicilian Defence, the Dragon Variation  is a sharp and reliable defence opening. I personally like the Dragon Variation as Black because it is rich in tactical themes and most of the position gives you promising end game prospects (because in the Sicilian, Black has more center pawns than White). It is also much easier to learn than the Sicilian Najdorf Variation because the plans and strategies are more direct and straight forward. Owing to the resulting sharp and unbalance positions, Black optimizes his chance to play for a win in the complications. Experience has shown that most White players get caught-out from these complications where a minute tempo is very crucial for survival.

With other Dragon Systems, Black can confuse his opponent by adopting crafty move orders to trick him into a transposition where Black is favourable. Good examples of this tricky move orders are the Accelerated Dragon and the Hyper Accelerated Dragon where both aims to side-step the theoretical richness of the Yugoslav Attack.

Need more convincing to play the Dragon? Have a look at the following games and see how you can win with Black using this opening.

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Greetings chess friends!

In this post a yet another instructive sampler game on my new pet opening the Hyper Accelerated Dragon.

Having the Classical Dragon in my repertoire for years I was able to appreciate the potential of the Hyper Accelerated Dragon. I was able to compare black's king safety on both openings and personally concluded that the black king in the Hyper Accelerated Dragon is very much safer because it is not as exposed to immediate attacks early in the opening, especially in the Yugoslav Attack. I also noticed that the play is not so razor sharp which makes the game more on the positional side. This is really good according to many GM's who believes that strategical play is better than route memorization to a learning chess player like myself.

So is the Hyper Accelerated Dragon an ultimate defense to 1.e4? After only having played it a few times I have to admit that I am slightly annoyed to reach the Maroczy Bind position (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4). I sense that in the Maroczy Bind black's chances to play for a win diminishes quite substantially as compared to the Classical Dragon. But this does not mean the chances to equalise has become futile. Theoretically, black in the Maroczy Bind has already a draw at hand but he must be willing to sit down toiling from a disadvantaged or comparatively difficult position. Black actually has very good chances to win if white over extends himself. The Maroczy Bind positions are very positional and quite dull that most 1.e4 players dont find it attractive to play anyway. And I have to say, since playing the Hyper Accelerated Dragon, it's still a very rare occasion for me to face the Maroczy Bind.