Thoughts on the Accelerated Dragon

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henriques3

I have very little experience with the Sicilian, and recently I was told that I 'did a superb transition to the Accelerated Dragon'. Naturally, this comment surprised me quite a bit, as I didn't recognise the resulting variation (probably due to some extent of transposition). 

 

Anyway, I have thought of learning on how to approach the Sicilian (primarily as white)... 

Is it worth considering the Accelerated Dragon as a starting point? If so, why? If not, why not? and what else? 

Welcoming all comments happy.png

Yigor

Affirmative, and it's even worthy to consider the Hyperaccelerated Dragon wink.pngpeshka.png:

 

kindaspongey

At high levels of chess, I don't think that the Accelerated Dragon is as popular as possibilities like the Najdorf, Taimanov, and Kan, but I have seen a number of suggestions of the AD for amateurs. Consequently, it seems to make some sense to specifically prepare for the AD, but, on the other hand, one might want to think about this comment:

"... There is no doubt in my mind that if you really want to test the Sicilian then you have to play the main lines of the Open Sicilian. The problem is that there are just so many of them ... and keeping up with developments in all of them is a substantial task. ... as you become older, with other demands on your time (family, job, etc.) then it becomes more and more difficult to keep up with everything. At this stage it may make sense to reduce your theoretical overhead by adopting one of the 'lesser' lines against the Sicilian: 2 c3, or the Closed Sicilian, or lines with Bb5. ..." - GM John Nunn in part of a 2005 book where he discussed a 1994 game in which he had played 2 c3.

kindaspongey
henriques3 wrote:

… I have thought of learning on how to approach the Sicilian (primarily as white) ...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

henriques3
Yigor wrote:

Affirmative, and it's even worthy to consider the Hyperaccelerated Dragon :

 

Ooooh, Exciting! Although I am being silly with my expression for this, I am considering your contribution seriously. Would it be bad to consider that there is the potential for transposition to occur to some extent, or would this make learning Sicilian theory a little bit easier?

henriques3

 @kindaspongey I do not see too much of the Sicilian as White (and very much prefer 1 ... e5 as Black) and I also doubt that I will be able to get to a 'high' level of chess given uni and other commitments. The amount of theory for the Sicilian is one of the other reasons that I have not been keen to learn it yet! Regardless, when I do decide to begin my study on the Sicilian, chance are that I will prefer a variation with less theory. I have also heard very high praise of Nunn and his work, so I might see what I can find in the future!

henriques3

Also, I didn't mention in the original post (probably due to lack of focus and working on an assignment meh.png) that I was playing as white in the game mentioned.

Subsequently, and in relation to this, I am confident that I will be playing most games against the Sicilian, not with it (for now anyway).  But, if I do decide to begin playing the Sicilian (after finding the time to invest in learning some variation(s)), I could well being with the AD or any variation that seems promising.

henriques3
DeirdreSkye wrote:

If you like slow manoeuvring games then you will certainly like Black's position. And since very few know how to play it , you will have a huge practical advantage if you study a few(when I say a few I mean a lot) games and understand it well.

I feel like manoeuvring games like this test my patience a little too much for now... It is mainly because I am rarely sure where to go in positional games. There is so much for me to learn!!!! cry.png

henriques3
NMinSixMonths wrote:

If I see 2. ... Nc6 I play 3.Nc3 and the go into a KIA setup and this isn't uncommon I guess so you probably have to prepare against this if you play the AD.

Ok I will consider playing against the potential 3.Nc3 / KIA variations (amongst all of the other potential variations) if I begin playing the AD.

kindaspongey
henriques3 wrote: "... I have thought of learning on how to approach the Sicilian (primarily as white)... Is it worth considering the Accelerated Dragon as a starting point? If so, why? If not, why not? and what else? ..."
kindaspongey wrote: "... I have seen a number of suggestions of the AD for amateurs. Consequently, it seems to make some sense to specifically prepare for the AD, but, on the other hand, one might want to think about this comment: '... There is no doubt in my mind that if you really want to test the Sicilian then you have to play the main lines of the Open Sicilian. The problem is that there are just so many of them ... and keeping up with developments in all of them is a substantial task. ... as you become older, with other demands on your time (family, job, etc.) then it becomes more and more difficult to keep up with everything. At this stage it may make sense to reduce your theoretical overhead by adopting one of the 'lesser' lines against the Sicilian: 2 c3, or the Closed Sicilian, or lines with Bb5. ...' - GM John Nunn in part of a 2005 book where he discussed a 1994 game in which he had played 2 c3."
henriques3 wrote:

... I do not see too much of the Sicilian as White ... The amount of theory for the Sicilian is one of the other reasons that I have not been keen to learn it yet! Regardless, when I do decide to begin my study on the Sicilian, chance are that I will prefer a variation with less theory. I have also heard very high praise of Nunn and his work, so I might see what I can find in the future!

I might not have explained myself very well. In part, my idea was that, with the opponents that you usually face, it might be that the AD Sicilian occurs more often than other Sicilians. If that is the case, it could make sense to learn how to approach the Accelerated Sicilian as a starting point for learning how to approach the Sicilian generally. However, if you play for 1 e5 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4, there are a number of demanding alternatives to the AD that Black might choose. Consequently, if your goal is less theory, you might be happier choosing your starting point as one of the white alternatives to 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4, mentioned by GM John Nunn.

henriques3

Thank you for your contribution. Chances are that it is my fault due to fatigue.

That does make more sense now and I am sure that with more research it will become clearer how I will play with or against the Sicilian. 

Thank you again

Yigor
henriques3 wrote:
Yigor wrote:

Affirmative, and it's even worthy to consider the Hyperaccelerated Dragon :

Ooooh, Exciting! Although I am being silly with my expression for this, I am considering your contribution seriously. Would it be bad to consider that there is the potential for transposition to occur to some extent, or would this make learning Sicilian theory a little bit easier?

 

U can play Hyperaccelerated Dragon normally, using only the basic principles of chess openings. blitz.pngwink.png It can transpose to everything including the black's kingside fianchetto, for example, to subvariants of KID (King's Indian defense). peshka.png

Paul1e4

When White is playing against the Hyperaccelerated Dragon, after 3. d4  cxd4 is it better to recapture with the knight or the queen?

Yigor
Paul_in_NJ wrote:

When White is playing against the Hyperaccelerated Dragon, after 3. d4  cxd4 is it better to recapture with the knight or the queen?

 

Both options are good, Qxd4 is sharper. 

henriques3
Yigor wrote:
henriques3 wrote:
Yigor wrote:

Affirmative, and it's even worthy to consider the Hyperaccelerated Dragon :

Ooooh, Exciting! Although I am being silly with my expression for this, I am considering your contribution seriously. Would it be bad to consider that there is the potential for transposition to occur to some extent, or would this make learning Sicilian theory a little bit easier?

 

U can play Hyperaccelerated Dragon normally, using only the basic principles of chess openings.  It can transpose to everything including the black's kingside fianchetto, for example, to subvariants of KID (King's Indian defense). 

Very nice! I will definitely try to keep that in mind wink.png

fieldsofforce
DeirdreSkye wrote:

Accelerated Dragon is probably one of the easier Sicilians to play. "Easier" in terms of theory. It doesn't have so many lines and it's not difficult to learn.

The advantage of accelerated Dragon is that it avoids Yugoslav attack , by far the most dangerous line against Dragon. Well, that has a cost.

The problem is, and always was, Maroczy.I suspect that if it wasn't Maroczy it would be the most popular Sicilian variation.

 

 

This is the famous Maroczy bind and it is  difficult to handle for both sides. That is not necessarilly a drawback though. If you like slow manoeuvring games then you will certainly like Black's position. And since very few know how to play it , you will have a huge practical advantage if you study a few(when I say a few I mean a lot) games and understand it well.

                                                         _____________________

This is why the Hyperaccelerated Dragon is to be preferred.  Only if Black could achieve the Boleslavsky Wall should he choose the Accelerated Dragon.

HolographWars

To combat the Sicilian, I play the Grand Prix Attack, Nc3 followed by f4. It is a great shortcut and led to many nice victories for me.

SeniorPatzer

Does it go like this?

 

5... g6. Sicilian Dragon. 

4... g6 Accelerated Dragon

2... g6 Hyper Accelerated Dragon

HolographWars

yes, 5...g6 is considered dubious today due to 6.Nxc6

kindaspongey

Isn't 2...Nc6 common for the Accelerated Dragon?