The Monthly Dragon - A positional dragon?

by Arne Kaehler
4/29/2024 – After the little excursion to plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and how Chris Ward suggested countering them, we got back on track with a real Dragon game. Real? Well, this time, the British GM chose a very positional game, and points out, that it doesn't always have to be a tactical back and forth in this opening. Uncomplicated, straightforward chess is possible!| Photo: John Upham
In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

The Monthly Dragon

with GM Chris Ward

The British Grandmaster Chris Ward is always delighted if he can play his favourite opening as Black: the Sicilian Dragon.

Ward's knowledge about this strong opening is covered in several of his books, his blog on chesspublishing, and his three, greatly popular FritzTrainers in our ChessBase shop.

In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

With the new ChessBase series "The Monthly Dragon", the passionate Salsa dancer is showing us the newest tactics, plans, and development of this fascinating opening.

Lucky for us, the dragon is an opening, played by some of the best players in the world. This means, Chris probably won't run out of fuel for new content.

Full analysis by Chris Ward

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Upon 2.Nc3 very reasonable is Nc6 and I would argue best for a Dragon player who might want to be flexible with his king's knight in Anti-Sicilian variations e.g. 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6 intending ...Nge7 against the Grand Prix Attack. 2...Nc6 We soon get to a standard Classical Dragon but of course this is via an Accelerated Dragon move order where White shows no appetite for a c2-c4 Maroczy bind set-up but is keen to deter a swift Black ...d5 pawn break. Note 2...d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Also relevant here (with a comparison to the main game in mind) is that 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 ; the main line Yugoslav Attack has seen White play 9.Nb3 on occasion (rather than 9 0-0-0, 9 Bc4 or 9 g4 but still deterring ...d5) reaching the same position as the game but with f2-f3 included rather than Be2. 6...Bg7 7.0-0 Nc6 is a common move order where White can delay deploying his dark-squared bishop with 8 Nb3 or else similarly 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nb3 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 is the 'Semi-Accelerated Dragon' but 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 Ng8 doesn't have a good reputation for Black. 5.Nc3 Rejecting the Maroczy Bind set-up 5.c4 5...Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nb3 Upon 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Black would naturally be tempted to deploy the thematic d5 and so White opts to take this off of Black's menu now. 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 d5 would transpose to the 9 0-0-0 Yugoslav Attack but without White having castled! Yes he'd be a tempo down! Note compared to the above mentioned Semi-Accelerated Dragon, with ...Bg7 and Be3 included, here 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 isn't such a problem for Black with both 8...Ng8 and the pawn offering 8...Nd5 very playable. 7...d6 8.Be2 0-0 9.Qd2 9.0-0 would basically then transpose to the old main line of the Classical with Be6 10.f4 Rc8 where White is advised to avoid 11.f5?! Bd7 12.g4 Ne5 13.g5 allowing the thematic exchange sac Rxc3 14.bxc3 Nxe4 In light of the game continuation, I'm not sure White can justify prioritising Qd2. 9...Be6 9...Ng4 10.Bxg4 Bxg4 11.Bh6 a5 would be double-edged but with Black's knight remaining on f6, I'm not so enamoured with what follows. 10.Bh6?! Upon 10.0-0-0 I guess Black chooses between the likes of a6 , 10...a5 and 10...Rc8. We are of course making a comparison with the 9 Nb3 Yugoslav Attack where here White has Be2 instead of f2-f3. Whilst controlling the h5-square could be useful, the lack of support to the e4-pawn could be an issue. 10...Rc8 10...Bxh6 11.Qxh6 and now either Qb6!? or 11...a5 feel more than fine to me. 11.Bxg7 If 11.h4 then Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Nb4!? is awkward for White e.g. 13.Rc1 Rxc3 14.bxc3 Nxa2 15.Ra1 Nxc3 11...Kxg7 12.0-0 Now 12.h4 can be thematically (as in responding to wing play by action in the centre) met by d5 13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Qxd5 15.Qxd5 Bxd5 12...a6 Very reasonable although with the dark-squared bishops off, 12...Qb6 would have been useful too. 13.f4 So I'm not a great fan of the way White has played this. He is a little vulnerable along the b6-g1 diagonal and whilst that last move demonstrates aggressive intent, realistically in order to deliver mate White needs something like f4-f5, Rf3-h3, Qh6+ and then some way to eliminate the defending f6-knight. All a bit slow! b5 Standard queenside expansion with the e4-pawn now under threat to the ...b5-b4 advance. 14.Bf3 After 14.f5 Black could simply park his bishop on c4 but I also like b4 e.g. 15.fxe6 Qb6+ 16.Kh1 bxc3 17.Qxc3 Nb4! 14...Na5 14...Bc4 15.Rf2 and now e5! should be another familiar theme to Black players in the Classical variation. Grabbing dark-squared control with say 16.f5 a5 17.g4 gxf5 18.exf5 Kh8! looking to utilise the g-file too and 19.g5 b4 20.gxf6 bxc3 21.Qxc3 d5 just being good. 15.Nxa5 Probably better than 15...Ng4, White will have to deal with the issue on e5 shortly. Upon 15.e5 fine is Ne8! Rather than 15...dxe5?? 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Nxa5 15...Qxa5 From here actually her majesty threatens to switch the b4, thus explaining White's next move. 16.a3 Rc4 Black has various available moves but this flows nicely, scrutinizing e4 whilst looking to make the most of the half-open c-file. 17.Qe3 Qc7! 18.Be2 Qc5 Facilitated by Black's last move, now Black has a very pleasant endgame. 19.Qxc5 Rxc5 20.Bd3 Yes Black has his queenside play whereas White doesn't really have anything. Indeed even if he deploys an f4-f5, that merely concedes the e5-square. Rb8 21.Ne2 21.f5?! Bc4 is very nice for Black and so I guess White moved away anticipating an ...a5 and ...b5 plan. 21...Bc4 With the simple idea of trading bishops and invading on c2. 22.Nc3 The top engine move, clearly suggesting that from White's perspective, this is a bit of a grovel! a5 Meanwhile for Black it's all about simple chess. 23.Rfc1 b4 24.axb4 axb4 25.Na4 Now 25.Ne2? would walk into Nxe4! 25...Rc6 Keeping the option open to double on the c-file which after trading on d3 would result in the domination of that file whilst the white knight would remain under lock and key. 26.b3 26.e5 dxe5 27.fxe5 Ng4 is no better. 26...Bb5 Also good but I refer you to my previous comment regards 26...Bxd3 27.cxd3 Rbc8 28.Rxc6 Rxc6 27.Nb2?! Not really helping and critically relinquishing control of the c3-square. Bxd3 28.cxd3 28.Nxd3 Nxe4 29.Ra7 tenders a bit of action but surely not enough for a pawn. 28...Rc3! A beautiful entry point that coincidentally sees the b3-pawn targeted. 29.Rxc3 bxc3 30.Nd1 Rxb3 31.Rc1 c2! So White is winning the black c-pawn but Black now has other white pawns in his sight. 32.Rxc2 Rxd3 33.Nc3 Or 33.Nf2 Re3 forking the e4-pawn and mate on e1. 34.Rc4 Re1# 33...Re3 And White's e-pawn is a goner. 34.e5 With the tactic 34.Kf2 Rxc3! 35.Rxc3 Nxe4+ worth observing! 34...dxe5 35.fxe5 Rxe5 Two pawns up; it's all over bar the shouting! 36.Re2 Rxe2 37.Nxe2 Ne4 38.g3 e5 39.Kg2 f5 40.Nc1 Kf6 41.Nd3 Ke6 42.h4 Kd5 43.Nb4+ Kc5 44.Nd3+ Kd4 45.Nb4 Nf6 46.Nc6+ Kd5 47.Nb4+ Kc5 48.Nd3+ Kd4 49.Nb4 Kc3 50.Nc6 e4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gattass,A2225El Debs,F25270–12024B7210th Floripa Open 20244.2

In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.
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