The pawn outpost on d5 in the Dragon

5/18/2026 – In the latest issue of ChessBase Magazine #231, Mihail Marin examines a structure that is important for both the Sicilian Dragon and the English Opening: when White plays the knight to d5, Black exchanges it, and White takes back with exd5, an outpost is created on d5. Is this an advantage for White? How does this change the overall situation? Could the pawn become a target for attacks, or is it Black who needs to worry about his pawn on e7? Our strategy expert explores these and many other questions in his article. Check out the new CBM sample “Space advantage: yes – one-sided game: no!”