The Monthly Dragon - Tiger or alligator? Who will win?

by Arne Kaehler
1/17/2025 – It's still the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac, but on the 29th of January, it will turn into the Year of the Snake. But for Chris Ward, every year is the Year of the Dragon, and new games continue to show up month by month. In this episode, Chris examines the variation without f3 for White. What are the plans? How should they be countered? The English GM knows it all. | 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.e41,179,68254%2421---
1.d4956,07555%2434---
1.Nf3285,14456%2441---
1.c4184,10856%2442---
1.g319,83956%2427---
1.b314,56054%2428---
1.f45,93848%2377---
1.Nc33,88850%2384---
1.b41,77948%2379---
1.a31,24654%2406---
1.e31,07949%2409---
1.d396550%2378---
1.g467046%2361---
1.h446554%2381---
1.c343851%2425---
1.h328956%2420---
1.a411759%2462---
1.f310047%2427---
1.Nh39267%2511---
1.Na34762%2476---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 The move order that retains the Hungarian Dragon as an option and could possibly be why White chose a Classical set-up. Note comparing our main game to a delayed castles system in the Yugoslav Attack e.g. 6...Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.0-0-0 Rc8 10.g4 , the white g-pawn won't have such an impact. 7.Be2 Bg7 7...h5 doesn't sit right with me here because of 8.0-0 and a swift razzing of the f-pawn. 8.Qd2 A sign that if Black now castles kingside, then White's king will go the other way in the still vaguely fashionable line that I refer to as the 'long castles Classical'. Bd7 Non commital in so far as keeping the king in the middle but given after 8...0-0 9.0-0-0 Ng4 i.e. 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 the other popular response. 10.Bxg4 Bxg4 11.f3 the fact that this bishop won't want to move again any time soon is arguably commital too! 9.h4 h5 Black stops White's h-pawn in its tracks whilst eliminating a future Bh6 for White. 10.f3 Regaining control of the g4-square with now a clear Yugoslav Attack feel about the position. Rc8 Either way Black is insistent on delaying castling. 11.Nd5 An assessment of '?!' might be a little harsh but I like Black's follow up. In hindsight though 11.0-0-0 feels right but Black can still be content. Basically we would have a Yugoslav Attack delayed castles variation where White deploying h2-h4 before g2-g4 (and thus Black able to comfortably respond with ...h5) means that he won't be troubling Black with his g-pawn. 11...Nxd5 12.exd5 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Rxc2!? To be fair 13...Bxd4 14.Qxd4 (hitting the rook on h8) 0-0 15.c3 Qa5 tenders equal chances but the text is a nice little imbalancer. 14.Qxc2 Bxd4 Leaving Black with a pawn for the exchange but with the bishop pair including of course the dominant Dragon bishop. 15.0-0-0 Necessary now with short castles not even a legal option and ...Qa5+ about to be awkward. Qb6 Guarding the attacked bishop and eyeing up the b2-pawn. Next up would be ...0-0 facilitating ...Rc8 and a handy initiative. 16.Qb3 White then decides to bale out with a queen swap but the best defence was actually 16.Bb5! Qxb5 Note both 16...Be3+?! 17.Kb1 Qxb5 18.Qc3! Bf5+ 19.Ka1 and 16...Bxb5? 17.Qc8+ Qd8 18.Qxd8+ Kxd8 19.Rxd4 are both comfortably in White's favour. 17.Rxd4 when 0-0 leaves an imbalanced position with equal chances. Black only has the one pawn for the exchange but major pieces remain and both the c-file and f5-b1 diagonal are issues for White to deal with. 16...Qxb3 17.axb3 Bf6 Remaining on the traditional Dragon bishop diagonal whilst scrutinising White's h-pawn. However for me 17...Bc5!? made a little more sense. Black should want to preserve her remaining rook and sealing off the c-file prevents a swap from taking place there and of course deny White's rooks the activity they crave, 18.Bd3 0-0 Natural but arguably not best given the c-file challenge ahead. Instead 18...Rg8!? brought the break ...g5 to the table and given this over-protects the g6-pawn, the less likely concept of advancing the e-pawn with the option of an f-pawn recapture should White trade. 19.Kb1 g5 20.hxg5 Rxg5 19.Kb1 Rc8 19...Rb8 20.Rc1 Kf8 21.Rc7 Ke8 looks odd given Black had only just castled but at least all is under control and Black could claim to have a miniscule edge. 20.b4 Presumably Black's idea was to meet 20.Rc1 with Rc5 although 21.Rxc5 dxc5 22.Rc1 b6 23.b4 is certainly not worse for White. I reiterate Black needs the rooks on for real winning chances. Of course we mustn't forget that White was the significantly higher rated player though and probably wasn't content with the concept of a draw. 20...Kf8 21.Rc1 Rb8 Preserving the rooks with the c5-square no longer available. 22.Ka2 Ke8 23.Be2 Presumably angling for g2-g4. Bf5 24.b3 Now though 24.g4? would have walked into hxg4 25.fxg4 Be4 24...b5 Handing Black's rook some options. 25.Rc7 Kd8 Slightly surprising but not bad. I guess expected would have been 25...a6 guarding the pawn when actually after 26.Rc6 Black would have Bc8! e.g. 27.g3 Bb7! as if 28.Rb6? then Bd4 26.Rc6?! Regards 26.Rxa7 no doubt White didn't want a black rook getting to use the a-file although Rc8 27.Bxb5 Rc2+ 28.Ka3 would certainly have been fun! 26...Bd7 27.Rcc1 Presumably then White didn't fancy 27.Ra6 Rc8 but now the a-file comes into play. 27...Rb6! Probably explaining Black's earlier reluctance to play ...a6, suddenly Black threatens to give mate via ...Ra6+. 28.g4 Originally an idea to try and create a passed h-pawn but now necessary to deprive Black's light squared bishop of the f5-square. Ra6+ 29.Kb1 Ra1+ 30.Kc2 Ra2+ 31.Kd3 The initiative is with Black but it shouldn't be terminal. Or 31.Kd1? Bb2! 32.Rb1 Bc3 with big problems! 31...hxg4 32.fxg4 Rb2 33.Bd1? 33.Rb1! was really necessary. I don't know if White didn't want to allow Rxb1 33...Ra2 preserving the rooks keeps things in the balance. 34.Rxb1 Bxh4 but White should be happy with that and indeed 35.Ra1 Bf2?! 36.Rf1 33...Rg2! Simply threatening to take White's g-pawn before or after checking on g3. 34.g5? Things were bad for White but this accelerates the outcome. Bb2! And given the light-squared bishop check on f5, the white rook is in trouble. 35.Bf3 Bf5+ 36.Ke3 Bxc1+ 37.Rxc1 Rb2 White is currently a pawn down with others as targets. 38.Bd1 Rh2 39.Ra1 Rh1! Totally professional! 40.Kd4 And with this White resigns before ...Bc2 or ...Bg4 hit the board to exploit the pin. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Suarez Gomez,J2477Calzetta Ruiz,M22080–12024B7289th ch-ESP 20247.21

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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