Accelerated Dragon

The Accelerated Dragon chess opening is a sped up approach to the Sicilian dragon. The article will cover main ideas of the accelerated dragon, as well as the move order. One key difference between the accelerated dragon and the Sicilian dragon is that black likes to push d5 in one move instead of two. For those of you whom aren't familiar with the Sicilian dragon here's a quick look at the beginning of it.

In the accelerated dragon, black plans on playing d5 in one move. But in order to be able to he has to figure out how to solve one issue. What will he play instead of 2.d6, stopping any e5 ideas by white? The answer is 2.Nc6. This allows black to later on play d5. Black will now fianchetto the dark-squared bishop and castle king-side.

White has the option of two major set-ups. The modern variation, which allows white a king-side pawn storm after he castles queen-side. The other option is the Maróczy Bind(5.c4), which really cements white's control of d5 and plans on keep a strong grip of the square for the game. This system for white can sometimes be similar to the Yugoslav Attack which is used against the Sicilian Dragon, but white normally won't castle queen-side. However, this will not be covered in this article.

 As far as middle-game tactics, both sides are trying to checkmate the other, normally using a king-side(If white) or queen-side(If black) pawn storm to open files for their pieces to further the attack. Therefore, it is not in either sides plans to trade pawns on the side they're castled, unless it's clearly winning(passed pawn in an endgame etc.). White will a lot of times have to balance a king-side attack while controlling d5. White would like to trade the dragon bishop(black's fianchettoed bishop) for his own dark-squared bishop as it would remove one of black's best pieces.  

Black plans on attacking and opening files on the queen-side for rooks to swing on over. Sometimes black even goes for an exchange-sacrifice for the knight on c3, but this is far more thematic in the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defense. Black's other main plan is to push d5 and challenge white's center and remove his d7 weakness. In most games where he does, black is usually better. It is not in black's interest to trade the dragon bishop as it is his strongest piece.

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