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Good morning! Hereby I would like to present a couple of notes on one of the variations in the Sicilian Defence, namely the Accelerated Dragon variation. It is an opening system that is both positionally sound and rich in tactics and strategy, and it is also fairly tempting for White players unfamiliar with the variation to enter a line that looks stronger than it really is. The starting moves are thus: What is all this about?Black develops their pieces in a harmonious way, while putting the dark-square bishop on its most aggressive diagonal. Meanwhile, Black keeps the central pawns back. There are a couple of points that make up the foundation for the Accelerated Dragon. The main point of the Accelerated Dragon is best understood when this opening is compared to the Yugoslav Attack of the Classical Dragon, which starts with the following moves: The castling on opposite wings usually calls for a mutual king's attack. These lines can become extremely sharp very quickly. Lots of study on this variation has been done, and a definitive answer as to the overall assessment of this system is yet to be given. Put concretely, the Yugoslav Attack in the Classical Dragon is a theoretical armageddon. One thing has to be said about the second variation in the Yugoslav Attack: The move for Black to obtain counterplay in this line is the pawn thrust ...d5. But first d7-d6 and then d6-d5 to obtain counterplay - that looks rather slow, does it not? The Accelerated Dragon move-order aims to provide a solution to this question. By keeping the d-pawn on d7 for a bit, Black can "take an extra turn" with his d-pawn and move it to d5 in one go. Attempts to set up the Yugoslav Attack against the Accelerated Dragon are not as effective: So by the Accelerated Dragon move-order, Black has managed to circumvent the Yugoslav Attack, White's most critical test of the Sicilian Classical Dragon. Can White punish Black for not allowing him to do as he pleases? This is the ultimate question. If the setups against the Classical Dragon fail to impress against the Accelerated Dragon, White must find a different way to generate play. Let us start by observing a few differences between the Classical and the Accelerated Dragon. 1. First of all, because Black has not played the pawn to d6, a pawn push to e5 can be performed with relative ease. Will this be enough for White to obtain an edge? This immediate attempt at refutation gives Black a central pawn majority and a lead in development. Can it be done a bit later, then? So this secondary attempt to refute the Accelerated Dragon also gives Black a lead in development and a central pawn majority. Variations with Nxc6 exist in many Sicilians, but they only provide White with anything tangible if there is a concrete follow-up that requires this exchange to occur. If this is not the case, then bxc6 will reinforce Black's control over the d5-square, which will come in handy for the idea of the liberating thrust ...d5.Which brings us to #2. 2. We saw in the Classical move-order that the pawn push ...d5, challenging White's pawn on e4, promises Black a very fair share of the chances. This is a sentence that is almost universally true of every Sicilian variation: in general if Black can carry out ...d5, then Black is very happy.So what if White can restrain that liberating pawn push by putting a pawn on c4? In the Classical Dragon, this pawn move is not possible: But in the Accelerated Dragon, this move does exist: This setup with the pawns on e4 and c4 bears the name of Geza Maróczy: it is referred to as the Maróczy Bind. White takes up even more space, and simultaneously greatly reduces Black's counterplay along the semi-open c-file.The Maróczy Bind is a critical test of the Accelerated Dragon. It is not as sharp as the Yugoslav Attack against the Classical Dragon, but its positional basis is very solid.White aims to squeeze the point out of Black, developing the pieces harmoniously and gradually preparing a pawn lever on either wing to grant access into Black's position.Black will try to exchange a couple of pieces to alleviate the space problem, and prepare a counterattack against the pawn on c4. 3. Black's reluctance to play d7-d6 means that Black's light-square bishop will not join in quickly. If White wants to use this to their advantage, they can opt to develop normally while keeping an eye out for the thrust ...d5. (Remember that this is Black's key move in most Sicilian variations!) Then White can choose to open up the position and exert a lot of pressure along the open central files.This method of play can be very effective to put the Accelerated Dragon to the test, and it is a solid alternative for White-players who find themselves uncomfortable with Maróczy Bind positions.This can best be seen in the following variation: So there we have it: a quick and general overview on the battles in the Accelerated Dragon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf1DHUzS698

I never saw this move coming Thankfully my opponent player Qf6+ and I won