The Monthly Dragon - Introducing: The Hungarian Deviation!

by Arne Kaehler
8/30/2023 – In the last episode, Chris introduced the Hungarian Dragon. This time, the British GM will continue with some deviations of the popular variation. Beware, the following game is intense! It is definitely worth it to check out the full analysis. | 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.e41,189,14553%2421---
1.d4962,14055%2434---
1.Nf3287,56356%2440---
1.c4185,55356%2442---
1.g319,92756%2427---
1.b314,65854%2429---
1.f45,97348%2376---
1.Nc33,94250%2383---
1.b41,79448%2378---
1.a31,25854%2406---
1.e31,08449%2409---
1.d396950%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446954%2381---
1.c344051%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a412060%2461---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39366%2506---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 A quick reminder that 6.Bc4 Nc6? However 6...Bg7 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.e5 dxe5 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 11.Bxf7? e6 would leave White's light-squared bishop incarcerated.Relevant to this game is that would not be the case were Black's h7-pawn on h5. 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 dxe5? 9.Bxf7+! is very bad news. 6...Nc6 7.f3 h5 Getting ready for the 'Hungarian Dragon'. 8.Bc4 But White opts to avoid that 8.Qd2 Nxd4 9.Bxd4 Bh6 variation that has been played quite a lot recently and with good results. 8...Bd7 Of course ruling out the bishop coming to h6 lines but 8...Bg7 is possible as although 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.e5 dxe5? 10...Nh7!? 11.exd6 exd6 (note now threatening the bishop winning...Qh4+) 12.0-0 0-0 11.Qxd8+ Kxd8 12.Bxf7 is good for White because the hanging pawn on g6 means White's light-squared won't be trapped by ...e6, in fact 10...Nh7! looks promising for Black. A key point there is that White would rather his f3-pawn was back at home! 9.Bb3 Roll back a few years and 9.Qd2 would have been automatic but now with the emergence of the Hungarian Dragon, White was probably still looking to avoid Nxd4 9...Bg7 of course being possible and a sort of offbeat delaying castling 9 Bc4 Yugoslav Attack. 10.Bxd4 Bh6 9...Bg7 I guess the game of cat and mouse could have continued with 9...Rc8 but as we soon see Black has other plans for his queen's rook and so finally Black commits his Dragon bishop. 10.Qd2 And consequently with Black having shown his hand, now White feels happy to play this! However although we sort of have an offbeat 9 Bc4 Yugoslav Attack variation, it's very possible that White would have favoured the 9 0-0-0 line in a normal main line so avoiding the ...Nxd4 and ...Bh6 system may have put him out a bit. Na5 With options of taking White's bishop or later on jumping in to c4. 11.0-0-0 Rb8 One can see why Black is refraining from castling for now and aside from bringing this rook to c8 instead, certainly 11...Nxb3+ was plausible. Whichever pawn recaptured an ...a5-a4 plan could then follow. 12.Nde2 This is an interesting situation. I wouldn't say that White has a choice of 'waiting moves' (such as this or Kb1) as Black's ...b5 and ...Nc4 plan is fairly transparent. With the black king still in the middle, certainly Rhe1 suggested itself but then again should Black's king 'go short' after all then undoubtedly White would want rooks on the h/g files to launch an offensive. b5 Bringing both ...Nc4 and ...b4 into play and challenging White to take the on offer a-pawn. 13.Bxa7?! Which he does although it looks a little greedy! 13.Nf4 was consistent although after Nc4 14.Bxc4 bxc4 coming with ...Qa5 would be some handy queenside action. 13...Ra8 Not bad but 13...b4! looked even stronger e.g. 14.Nd5 14.Bxb8 Nxb3+ 15.cxb3 bxc3 16.Nxc3 Qxb8 leaves two bishops for the rook and ...Bh6 ideas can be thrown into the mix too. 14...Nxb3+! 15.cxb3 or 15.axb3 Qa5 15...Nxd5 16.Bxb8 Note the 16.Qxd5 Qc7+ fork. 16...Bh6! 17.f4 Nxf4 18.Nxf4 Qxb8 when White would be in a right pickle along that h6-c1 diagonal. 14.Qe3?! Probably 14.Bd4 is an improvement but still Bh6 15.Be3 Nxb3+ 16.cxb3 Bxe3 17.Qxe3 b4 would see Black regain the pawn and be comfortable. 14...b4 15.Nd5 Nxb3+ 16.axb3 Nxd5 17.Rxd5 Upon 17.exd5 Qa5 18.Bd4 Bh6 19.f4 Black could take that pawn on d5 bearing in mind a potential mate on a1 whilst simply castling looks great too. 17...Bc6 Very reasonable with other strong moves available too. 18.Bb6 18.Rdd1 Qd7 19.Bb6 Bh6 20.f4 Qb7 highlights how loose White's position is. 18...Qc8 With 18...Bh6 19.f4 Qd7 also looking strong. 19.Ra5 Bh6 20.f4 Rxa5 21.Bxa5 Qa6 Or 21...Qa8! also hitting a4 and side-stepping the queen trade. 22.Qb6 Qxb6 23.Bxb6 Bxe4 But of course this endgame is lovely. The pawn count is level but Black has a wonderful bishop pair. 24.Rg1 Kd7 25.Be3 Rc8 Natural and targeting c2. 26.c4 d5 The switch 26...Ra8! was also rather impressive i.e. 27.g3 Ra1+ 28.Kd2 Ra2 29.Kc1 Bg7 30.Nd4 And not 30.Bd4?? Bxd4 31.Nxd4 Ra1+ 30...e5 27.Ng3 Bd3 28.c5 d4 But this is all good stuff. 29.Kd2 29.Bxd4? Bxf4+ 30.Kd1 Ra8 would be curtains. 29...dxe3+ 30.Kxd3 Bxf4 31.Kc4 Bd6 Utilising the pin is simple stuff. 32.Ne4 f5! 33.Kxb4 fxe4 34.cxd6 exd6 35.Re1 d5 Black's central pawn mass is awesome. 36.Rxe3 Ke6 And White doesn't want to hang around to see it advance. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andersen,G2279Avila Pavas,S24990–12023B72Serbia Open 20231.9

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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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