How To Play: Sicilian Dragon Opening
In chess, the Dragon Variation is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Defense and begins with the moves:
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 g6
In the Dragon, Black's bishop is fianchettoed on g7, castling on the king's side while aiming the bishop at the center and queenside. In one of the most popular and theoretically important lines, the Yugoslav Variation, White meets Black's setup with Be3, Qd2 and Bh6, exchanging off the Dragon bishop, followed by launching a kingside pawn storm with h4–h5 and g4. To involve the a1-rook in the attack, White usually castles queenside, placing the white king on the semi-open c-file. The result is often both sides attacking the other's king with all available resources. The line is considered one of the sharpest of all chess openings.
The modern form of the Dragon was originated by German master Louis Paulsen around 1880. It was played frequently by Henry Bird that decade, then received general acceptance around 1900 when played by Harry Nelson Pillsbury and other masters.
In his 1953 autobiography, the Russian chess master and amateur astronomer Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky claimed that he coined the name "Dragon Variation" in 1901, after the fancied resemblance between Black's kingside pawn structure and the constellation Draco. The earliest known printed reference, found by chess historian Edward Winter, is in the Jan-Feb 1914 issue of Wiener Schachzeitung.
The main line of the Dragon continues:
6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3
The point of White's last move is to safeguard e4 and to stop Black from playing …Ng4 harassing White's dark-squared bishop. Black cannot play 6.Be3 Ng4?? immediately because of 7.Bb5+ either winning a piece after 7...Bd7 as white can play Qxg4 due to the pin on the d7 bishop, or winning an exchange and pawn after 7...Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Bxc6+ forking king and rook.
