Articles.

Our first topic will be:

How to Bust Sound Openings: The Sicilian Dragon

The title of the article may be surprising, but I have achieved a reputation in over-the-board-games of smashing my opponents whenever they play a sharp opening line. The first opening that we are going to examine in this series is "The Sicilian Dragon"

The Dragon arises after the moves:

The dragon is so named because the formation of pawns on d6-e7-f7-g6-h7 resembles a dragon.

This line is very sharp (how else would it find its way into the article?). White will attack on the kingside, black will attack on the queenside.

Some typical plans and ideas for both sides:

White:

h2-h4-h5 (along with the possible g4 to support the h5 advance) followed by Bh6, trading of Black's strong dark-squared bishop. If white manages to achieve this, black sometimes does have a defense: 

White's goal is to play hxg6 and Bxg7, ripping open the h-file, followed by playing Qd2-h6 doubling up on the h-file. However, black can neutralize most of the activity on the h-file by playing fxg6 and Rf7. Timing is very important here. Every tempo counts

A key square for white is d5. If white opens the h-file and gets his major pieces over there, he still has to get rid of that pesky knigth on f6 which defends h7. This he does by Nd5.

A defensive technique for white that should be made known--Kc1-b1. The point of this move is to often play Rd1-c1, defending c2.

Black's ideas:

Black will play Nc6-e5-Bc8-d7-Ra8-c8-a7-a6-b7-b5, aiming at white's king with all his pieces.

A common sacrifice in this line for black is Rc8xc3, shattering the white king's defenses. Keep this in mind if you are playing the Dragon for either side

Another idea that has been introduced in the beginning of this century is to slide the rook to b8 instead of c8--supporting b7-b5, which will often e played as a gambit to open the b-file. This often proves deadly.

GM Bryan Smith has a very nice article on this opening here on chess.com--here is the link:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-play-the-chinese-dragon

These brief explanations have already given you an idea on how to play the Dragon from either side--good luck! And remember, do not lose a single tempo!

To conclude, here are some of my Dragon crushes. In the words of one of my friends, it "is impossible to play the dragon against Robert, even for masters"