Boris Alterman writes: "The Dragon is part of the Open Sicilian. It arises after the moves 1.e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6!

The Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense is one of the most-feared variations in chess! Almost half a century of analysis and practical experience by generations of chess players, which became especially intense in the second half of the twentieth century, has created a monumental body of theory.

Given such a large, existing body of knowledge, and the double-edged play that often results from the opening, the Sicilian Dragon is a variation for which the importance of theory cannot be underestimated.

World Champion Garry Kasparov had never used the Dragon in serious practice before his 1995 title defense match against Vishy Anand. But then he played it several times against Anand, winning some crushing victories in the most critical moments of their match. "

GM Boris Alterman is 34, and lives in Israel. He was born in Kharkov, Ukraine, where he started playing chess at the age of 7. His career highlights include earning the IM title in 1991 and the GM title in 1992.He is the winner of the following Open and GM tournaments: Haifa 1993; Bad Homburg 1996; Rishon LeZion 1996; Beijing 1995 and 1997; Munchen 1992. His hobbies include computers and swimming, his favourite food is Chinese, he speaks fluent Russian, Hebrew and English.

Boris has worked for and against Garry Kasparov. In 1999 he assisted the world champion in his spectacular Microsoft match Kasparov vs The World, and was also part of the team that built up the web portal Kasparov Chess. In 2003, on the other hand, he was part of the Deep Junior team that gave Kasparov a run for his money in the New York match.

Here are the world-wide starting times for Alterman's lectures.