Sicilian Dragon Theory 7. f3!

So, it has come to my attention that some 1700 players don't know that you should play 7. f3 before you play Qd2 in the dragon.

Why is this move so important?  7. f3! does three main things: 1) it over-protects e4 so that your c3 knight isn't tied down to the protection of that pawn later in the game, 2) it prepares g4; white will aim to castle queenside and launch a pawn storm on the kingside as is typical in opposite side castled games, and 3) 7. f3! guards the g4 square.  There is a common strategic motif in the dragon of black playing Ng4 and attempting to exchange his knight for white's dark squared bishop.  

Why?  The dark squared bishop is each sides' most valuable minor piece in the dragon.  For black, this is because his dark squared bishop occupies the long a1-h8 diagonal and serves as a both a brutal attacker on white's queenside and a crucial defender to black's own king position.

White's dark squared bishop is white's best minor piece mostly because white wants to exchange it for black's dark squared bishop.

7. f3! prevents the common Ng4 idea.  If white neglects this move, be sure to punish him for it!

When you can get it in, Ng4 is an excellent move for black: one that can mean the difference between 1-0 and 0-1!  Be careful though, and know when you can play Ng4 and when you can't!

I hope that this post proves useful for newer players just getting into the dragon for either side, or for more experienced players who haven't seen this.

As always, comment and enjoy!

Best is to play Bxd4 before forking with e5.

Shhhhhhh! I like playing the Dragon the fewer people that know about f3 the better lol

I like playing the dragon too.  Why?  Because chess is supposed to be fun!

 It's not fun having to memorize the first 20 moves you're supposed to play in order to stay on the board.

It's not fun handing your opponents a simple opening/middlegame plan  that they can follow on autopilot.

For these reasons I switched to the Accelerated Dragon.

Very true, I honestly can't understand why people play the dragon anymore, white's attack pretty much plays itself as Fischer once said.

The theory of the dragon was quite different when Fischer was beating everyone with the Yugoslav attack, black has found some good defensive resources since then. For example, the Soltis variation is quite ok theoretically for black, although black has to know more theory than white. But at least it isn't so automatic attack than it was when people allowed white to just play h5 and sac sac mate.
At the same time, at club level it is higly unlikely that one side will know the lines much better than his opponent. Probably black will be more familiar with the arising positions. (And everything that is not the Yugoslav is just easy equality for black)

I'm not scared of the Yugoslav attack.  If I lose that's life, but for me there is nothing more gratifying than winning in the black side of the Yugoslav Attack.  As csalami points out, white is certainly not winning by force.

The problem is also that playing the Dragon vs the Yugoslav Attack there's not much room for creativity. Most of the games end without me having had the chance to play an original idea or move.

Also while it's not objectively losing by force and things may be different from Fischer's time, practically speaking I think it is closer to what Fischer said. The Classical Dragon would be a great opening but the Yugoslav Attack just ruins it.

I’m a beginner and was analysing a dragon game and was thinking about the f3 move. Why is it so popular in the opening database?  What an excellent post explaining the basics of the move and ideas of the opening. Thanks!

Please don't bump old threads, this thread is five years old. People could have died in that time. 

Nobody that was a part of this discussion is likely to be here now. 

Maybe, but at least it's a much better thread than some of the ones that get bumped.

I'm all for beginners who find something useful and say thanks for it.