Sicilian Dragon

Is the Sicilian Dragon good and Shell I Play it? Ps asking for a Freund who dosn‘t has Chess.com

Which sicilian is best for you depends mostly on your playstyle. The main dragon rewards strong prep. All the dragons do... black has a superior pawn structure long term, and a very good attack on the queenside due to the bishop and the minority attack, but surviving long enough against whites testing lines to reach the endgame is key and requires precision. Dragon is good against the anti-sicilians (2... d6 always is), which is a major plus for it. But the Yugoslav attack is quite challenging, and you need to prepare that line very deeply to not get blown off the board. Personally I would choose the Accelerated Dragon if I wanted a dragon.

Hyperaccelerated dragon is interesting and it does avoid the Rossolimo, but it forces you to face some sharper lines including a stronger alapin and a difficult early endgame. The alapin is too boring, and the early endgame just makes it too easy for your opponent to get an advantageous position, so I would go with the Accelerated dragon.

There's an argument to be made for the regular dragon given that you *seriously* prep for the Yugoslav attack. Because it does deal with the anti-sicilians very well, along with just about everything else. And you will get alot of anti-sicilians for a while. At below masters level black is actually scoring well in the Yugoslav, due to superior prep.

Can we talk about how you're cheating in rapid? Is the Sicilian Dragon good? IDK, you tell us? You seem to be pretty well versed in the theory: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/123174814494 you were playing another cheater there though it seems, unlucky.

yes

up to you

I love it and I am defenitly recomanding this opening to you in matter what elo

As is often the case, the question is one of whether or not the good moves in a position come naturally to you. Have a look at https://www.chess.com/blog/DJAbacus/brilliant-games-2--karpov-vs-korchnoi-1974. Can you see where Korchnoi went wrong? Do you need to be told, or can you intuitively see what might be better? The Dragon is full of heavy tactics. Are you up for them?

The Dragon is pretty complicated, and beginner players generally struggle a bit with the Yugoslav Attack, when White tries to go for an early knockout. I have had great results with it personally, but in my case I put a lot of time into understanding the pawn structure, tactics, and theory. That being said, I play it, so I have to recommend it. If you love playing really sharp positions that involve spotting flashy tactics, then I would go for it. You could take a look at this , and I would recommend learning the basic theory from this course if you can access it. It teaches the basics fairly well.

I don't know if my links worked, so let me resend. Sicilian Dragon Tournament edition on chessable, by German MC, I think its free, and Chessable blog opening basics on the Sicilian Dragon.

When I started to play chess competitively in the 1960s, I read a book that recommended the Dragon Sicilian for beginners. I took it up and have had the Dragon and its variants in my repertoire ever since.

An advantage of the Dragon for newcomers is that Black’s thematic counterplay is easily understood and is likely to be the same across many games, regardless of what White plays. In this respect, it is like the King’s Indian and Benko Gambit.

Another advantage is that the Dragon is a fighting defense. Lower rated players are more likely to score upsets in tactical games than in positional ones.

is there a lot of theory? Of course. There are book lines that extend 20+ moves deep. But beginners and club players don’t have to worry about this until they get to a higher playing level.

Will Black get crushed in some games? Sure. But that is how you learn. One crush in a tournament game will teach you a line more effectively than spending two or three times the time in home study.

Hi there,

The Sicilian Dragon is good and sound.

I am rated over 2400 online (https://www.chess.com/member/ppandachess). I created a premium course that will provide you with a full opening repertoire for Black, based on the Sicilian Dragon against the King's Pawn Opening. Feel free to check it out: https://www.panda-chess.com/chess-openings-complete-repertoire-for-black

You mean this DRAGON?

Just kidding, but it's good

The opening of course