The Dynamic Sicilian - Which Dragon?

ello all,

I've gone through different openings for all my life, and never found one that seems perfect for me (that is, in response to e4.) I've tried 1...e6 (too solid), 1...Nf6 (too crampsed), 1...d5, 1...d6 (white always steamrolls me), and have recently attempted 1...e5, with horrible sucess. In tournaments I mostly play 1...d5, but I'm starting to get a bit bored of the Scandinavian (Qa5). I've tried the gambit variation 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 but 3.d4 is really annoying in this case. If I try 3...Bg4 (Portugese Gambit) white plays 4.Be2.

Anyway, I HAVE expiremented with the Sicilian before, but only with the Hedgehog. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and as I have found no satisfactory defense to 1.e4 I am considering playing the Sicilian, and one of the Dragons.

Background Information: My White repetoire consists of 1.e4, because I like tactical games, and 1.c4, because I like positions rich in strategy and love pawn storms. My Black  repetoire is the Dutch Stonewall, because I love pawn storms (in the Stonewall you get to do a K-side pawnstorm) and the Benko Gambit, because it is a mix of strategically rich positions, queenside pressure, plus some tactics.

In summary, I like positions that involve a (1) Pawn storm (2) Are strategically rich (3) Have tactics.

With this being said, which Sicilian Dragon variation should I play, and why? Please compare and contrast the three variations (Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, Hyper-Accelerated Dragon), especially keeping in mind the three points in blue. Also, what is White' best reply to each of them?

Honestly I would recommend starting with the najdorf first. Dragon lines are very sharp and u really need to know theory, one mistake and your toast. Najdorf is more solid and blacks queen side counter play comes quicker. I'm also guessing you like to be on the storming side of pawn storms, well if u play basic Dragon you will be the one getting stormed. Look up the Yugoslav attack. That's what most of your Dragon games will look like. The accelerated dragons are ment to combat this line from white but u still play g6 at some point which lets the pawn storm get to your king pawns earlier. Against najdorf the English attack follows same principle. White castles long and pawn storms but it's easier to refute IMO.

here's a playlist for an opening repertoire against e4: https://youtu.be/cwjf5jexT44

I recommend you study the Colorado Gambit If you have the chance (1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f4!?). Nice way to confuse your opponent! xD

Good luck!

Don't listen to him.  The Colorado is just plain unsound crap, and the videos themselves miss a good number of lines, including some very crucial ones.

As much as I dislike the Najdorf, it looks like it'll probably work well, as ewq85 suggested.  The Yugoslav Attack works very well against the mainline Dragon, while with the Accelerated Dragon you'll get a good amount of strategy and tactics, but not as much for pawn storms (just based on personal experience for the latter part).  However, there is a TON of theory that you'll need to know for the Najdorf, so be prepared for some studying.

play the schevenningan first, and once youve gotten used to the positions from that, start working on the najdorf. 

the pawns on e6 and d6 is a very basic structure and understanding the plans in playing with these structures is crucial to understanding the sicilian as a whole. 

and yes, never watch and GJ_Chess videos. those things are complete garbage and when you ask a question that refutes his "analysis", he deletes it. 

You shouldn't play the Dragon, unless you enjoy memorizing reams of theory just to sacrifice the exchange (Rxc3) just to draw at best. 

You should instead play the Poisoned Pawn Najdorf where it's still up for debate whether white has compensation for the pawn.  White does build a strong initiative with it, but you should keep in mind the variations and overall strategies of the opening. 

Wow, thanks for the replies guys!

So, you're saying that:

Dragon = Lots of theory :(

Accelerated Dragon = Strategy and Tactics :).

Hyper-Accelerated Dragon = ?

What are the merits of Hyper-accelerated dragon? Also does Hyper-Accelerated Dragon or Dragon have that much theory?

*When answering, please keep in mind the following.

In summary, I like positions that involve a (1) Pawn storm (2) Are strategically rich (3) Have tactics.*

Thanks much for the highly insightful answers!

Depends what you want to face. Regular boring old Dragon (I'm kidding clearly) will have you facing a Yugoslav. Accelerated Dragon move order could lead into a Rossolimo. Hyper avoids that. But with both you'll mostly be facing a Maroczy Bind.

When facing the Maroczy bind, do the positions arising from that contain:

(1) Pawn storms

(2) Rich Strategical Possibilities

(3) Tactics

Also, would you consider the Maroczy Bind best against both the Accelerated and Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? And of those two, keeping in mind the criteria above, which do you prefer?

Thanks!

Why not play the classical with Nc6 instead of g6?  If he goes into one of the crappy lines you can still play a dragon set-up.  Mind you, thats more at low level over the board stuff, rather than theory-rich turn based games.

Well I like k-side fianchettoes - and I wanted to try out the Dragons.

Actually Their are more Sicilian Dragons than you are aware of. In Fact their is one dragon that I have been working on trying to get it called the Raging Dragon lol.

However, I will give a list.

Sicilian Dragon mainline

Sicilian Chinese Dragon

Accelerated Dragon

Hyper Accelerated Dragon

Najdorf Dragon which is sometimes called Dragondorf

Sicilian Raging Dragon which is what I been working on.

Sense you have only mentioned 3 out of the list I gave. (Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, Hyper-Accelerated Dragon)

I will only comment to those 3.

Dragon < my assumption is you mean the mainline.

Sicilian Dragon

Mainline moves of the Sicilian Dragon starting position.
Depending on who you play and what level you play at. Most of the positions you will get out of this position are very easy to play all of them except 1 line.

The one line is known as the Yugoslav Attack all other lines seem to be ok for black so I will focus my discussion on the most tested line for white which is the Yugoslav attack.

Here is what the YugoSlav Attacks looks like from both sides.

White side point of View

Black side point of View

In this line white's intension is to castle queen side than start throwing his pawns up at you and you have to try and do the same on the queenside and the winner is the one who mates their opponent first.

In recent years it has shown that black has suffered some troubles with this line which is why high level players have stopped playing it recent years. White does win I would say alot in higher level chess;however, its very theoritical so the chance for someone to slip up and find themselves mated is really high on both sides so you do have practical chances.

1 of the key features in this Sicilian Dragon line is black played the move d6. The move d6 prevents white from playing a early e5 kicking the knight on f6 away. The draw back of this is that pawn really wants to go to d5 later on so black will later on have to waste a tempo to move it again.

Bascially what higher level players have done was they realize the YugoSlav Attack for white is some what strong in higher level chess and has decided to try and play other moves to bascially prevent a YugoSlav Attack from even happening. Which is how the Accelerated Dragon was created.

Accelerated Dragon

Starting position.

The idea with this line is not to move the D pawn to d6 to protect the e5 square. Instead what they do is they move their knight to c6 and protect the e5 square with their knight.

The difference is it saves a tempo becuase instead of black playing d6 than later on d5 they can play d5 in 1 move. Which means if your opponent goes for a YugoSlav Attack.  He will get some pressure.

I will show you what it looks like if he trys for a YugoSlav Attack in this position you will see how fast things go wrong.

So the Accelerated Dragon was made to try and prevent the aggressive YugoSlav Attack by saving a tempo. However, their is a catch. Their is always a catch.

The Accelerated Dragon does help prevent the aggressive YugoSlav Attack. However, What it also does is open the door for white to play other lines.

The Rossolimo Attack which is scoring pretty good by white as well. However, black does have ways of handling that better than the YugoSlav attack.

This is what the Rossolimo Attack looks like.

Yeah Rossolimo sometimes called Moscow if it comes with check. Yeah it happens becuase you bring your knight out at move 2 in the regular dragon you don't have a knight out on c6 becuase you play d6.

Usually white will try to ruin black structure and it turns into a positional game.

So again the black players got frustrated having to deal with the new line the Rossolimo Attack so what they did was they decided enough was enough. They were tired of the YugoSlav Attack and they was tired of the Rossolimo Attack so they created the Hyper Accelerated Dragon.

Hyper-Accelerated Dragon

Starting position.

So now what black has done is he hasn't moved his D pawn yet and he hasn't moved his knight to c6 to avoid any of bishop pinns.

Pretty Smart thinking huh? I know what your thinking is their a catch Player? Yes their is always a catch. If its to good to be true its becuase it isn't true HA HA.

So now what white has done has said since you have not moved your knight and you don't have alot of pieces out. I know what your planning to do you want d5 in really bad. I'm going to do something to you to create such a choke hold on the d5 square. That playing d5 will be impossible.

The choke hold they try for is known as a Bind.

The Marcozy Bind and this is how it looks like.

* Side Tip the Marcozy Bind can also be played in the Accelerated Dragon as well;however, many players prefer the Rossolimo against it*

So at the end of the day you are just going to have to figure out which line you like.

Even though they can be sometimes positional I believe the Accelerated Dragon and the Hyper Accelerated Dragon are more sound/solid than the Regular Dragon.

So yeah that is the case it seems.

Interesting. So if the Accelerated Dragon allows Rossolimo AND Maroczy, whereas Hyper-Accelerated Dragon allows only Maroczy, why don't Accelerated Dragon players play the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? Or is there more to it than that?

I really appreciate all the info, very informative. Thanks for taking the time!

Hyper Accelerated can also run into a 3.c3 move hoping to get a typical 2.c3 Sicilian position, also White can 3.Bc4 where black will try an eventual e6/d5 break to kick the Bishop out as is done in 2.Bc4 Sicilians but black has to be more careful as e6 in combination with g6 can leave dark square weakness. So moral of the story is that every "trick" move order can be matched by another "trick" move order.

Thanks Rubiks. Very interesting.

IT seems that many forumers have definetevely ruled out the Dragon.

To all: Do you prefer Accelerated or Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? And why? PLease answer with the following criteria in mind:

* I like positions that involve a (1) Pawn storm (2) Are strategically rich (3) Have tactics.*

TasmanianTiger wrote:

Thanks Rubiks. Very interesting.

IT seems that many forumers have definetevely ruled out the Dragon.

To all: Do you prefer Accelerated or Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? And why? PLease answer with the following criteria in mind:

* I like positions that involve a (1) Pawn storm (2) Are strategically rich (3) Have tactics.*

I wouldn't completely rule out the Dragon you just have to be prepared against yugoslav is all. I still play it and have beat the Yugoslav. Keep in mind your playing like 1500-2000 amateurs on here not GM's one slip can cost white the game too and I've had a lot of people on here just castle short as white then you can have a great game as black IMO.

LOL at reccommending poison pawn to someone who is barely starting teh sicilian.

In general the accelerated and hyper-accelerated variations do not involve the typical pawn storm attacks that you get with alot of Sicilians.  The hyper-accelerated dragon is played with the intention on transposing to the accelerated dragon but it avoids some of white's anti-sicilian options, particularly the Rossolimo, but gives white some other alternatives.

If you're looking for quick counterattacks and pawn-storm type attacks I think the Najdorf is the best option - although its insanely theoretical.  The mainline dragon is somewhat similar strategically but is just worse for black imo in the Yugoslav lines.  THe acclerated dragon is more of a positional opening and you need to be ready for white to try and positionally squeeze you with the Maroczy bind.

OP how about you just play the french?

I have tried Sicilian Najdorf, Sveshnikov, etc... and i always come back to a French Winaver if white goes with it, or e4/e5.

especially double king pawn games, i feel like its essential to learn how to play the black side of a ruy lopez, scotch etc... before playing things like sicilian.

In all fairness lol The Sicilian Dragon is what you are looking for.

* I like positions that involve a (1) Pawn storm (2) Are strategically rich (3) Have tactics.*

1. In the YugoSlav attack both sides try to pawn storm most times.
2. Strategy is to mate the enemy king
3. Full of tactics to try and survive the attack or unleash an attack.

If your opponent doesn't play the YugoSlav Attack against you than you have like nothing to worry about. Your position will be absolutely fine. So Yeah YugoSlav Attack seems to have made the Sicilian Dragon seem almost unsound.

However, I mean unless your 2000+ facing other 2000+ players. The chances of you winning are reasonable. After that range they take opening's very serious and some are very good in opening preparation.