The difference is that 7...0-0 is aimed at developing asap, while 7...Qa5 is a move that is meant to force 0-0 by White. Sometimes those can be transpositions.
The main move is 8...d6. 8...a5 hasn't been refuted, but White is known to get a comfortable game after 9.0-0. However, there's lots of theotry there, e.g. the clam 9...d6, pawn trade 9...a4, piece trade 9...Ng4, etc.
Having played both myself, I can say 7...Qa5 is safer.
7...0-0 8.Bb3 a5 9.0-0 is most likely the critical test. IMHO the best now for Black is 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 d6, when Black is solid, but rather passive. Tiviakov has scored quite well as Black from here, but the position is not fun to play. Or maybe, it is more fun than playing the Maroczy Bind as Black... 
Personally I only play the Accelerated Dragon now in blitz games, IMO this is not a serious opening to play against strong opponents. Black's game is way too predictable and static. And- the critical test is the Maroczy, not Be3/Bc4, which can always transpose to a regular Dragon, if Black wishes so (most of the times he doesn't).
ouch! u just gave me a new problem now! i thought the acc dragon is, FINALLY after researching for few nights, the opening to play against e4! ..
what to do now :'(
Well, do play it, but I have to warn you that against a strong opponent (who won't fall in some opening trap) it is nearly equivalent to suffering...
well, ofcourse when chosing an opening, im not hoping that my opponents will fall for the traps! i just want to play smthg that i like, and that gives black a good game! (not an inferior opening with the typical idea of: " SUPRISE YOUR OPPONENT" ). the acc dragon seems to be okay! but this maroczy system is very un-enjoyable to play against!
maybe have to take a look at the regular dragon!
thank you for your feedback! :)
Well, I feel that white has just a mild initiative in the 7...Qa5 variation, but Black should be solid, without particular problems. But in the Maroczy, unless white is positionally blind, only two results are possible. I have virtually tried every possible variation for Black, but none of them is really comfortable- way less so offering even slight winning chances. White has all the fun, period.
Agree, Maroczy offers White a comfortable game. However, a lot depends on what level we are talking about. At GM-level this statement is true. At, let's say, 1800 (club level) people don't have enough expertise to keep that positional advantage for a long time. In fact, there are also traps which one can fall for. So, while I personally would not encourage anyone to play the accelerated Dragon as the main opening, the objective truth is that it's quite playable.
GM Dzindzichasvili has done some work with the accelerated dragon normal positions as well as maroczy/acc dragon positions. he challenges the assertion that white has such a large advantage in the maroczy, and he offers some real interesting stuff. theres some variations there that might really give white trouble if she doesn't know them. he shows a variation where you can use the b pawn like some unstoppable battering ram! I don't remember the exact variation off hand, I would have to look it up (not a professional!) but basically white has like 3 or 4 pieces guarding b5, but it doesn't matter and you still play a b5 breakthrough because of tactical reasons. like WGM Pogonina stated, if you aren't playing at IM/GM level (not many people are!) then it's likely your opponent won't know everything, if you study all the variations, you will and you will be comfortable with the positions, will know your plan etc. this is an advantage.
a5 variation is the more modern approach. both are playable, especially at levels 2000 and below.
if you want to know more than you ever wanted about the accelerated dragon and the maroczy bind, I would suggest purchasing GM Dzindzi's DVDs volume 67 and 66 I think.
in that opening line you posted, instead of playing Bg7 if white takes the d pawn with the knight, you might want to consider playing Nf6, stopping white from playing c4.
The accelerated dragon may be static in the main line, but if white trys to get into a Yugoslav attack (and it does happen) the accelerated dragon can explode into life and equalise for black. Your likely to catch out at least one person by this!
in that opening line you posted, instead of playing Bg7 if white takes the d pawn with the knight, you might want to consider playing Nf6, stopping white from playing c4.
This is named the semi-accelerated Dragon, and it has a (deservedly) bad reputation due to the continuation 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bc6 (6...dc6 does not equalize, either) 7.e5.
in that opening line you posted, instead of playing Bg7 if white takes the d pawn with the knight, you might want to consider playing Nf6, stopping white from playing c4.
This is named the semi-accelerated Dragon, and it has a (deservedly) bad reputation due to the continuation 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bc6 (6...dc6 does not equalize, either) 7.e5.
I don't believe you and neither does GM Dzindzi and Rybka (running on 16 cores), if I'm not mistaken there's a very playable line after e5.
I don't believe you and neither does GM Dzindzi and Rybka (running on 16 cores), if I'm not mistaken there's a very playable line after e5.
I don't care about your opinion either, so we agree on that.
The accelerated dragon may be static in the main line, but if white trys to get into a Yugoslav attack (and it does happen) the accelerated dragon can explode into life and equalise for black. Your likely to catch out at least one person by this!
this is true, but you have to know the accelerated precisely to take advantage of it, I should say if you don't know the stuff down cold, it's really easy to forget something and all of sudden find yourself in a yugoslav attack saying to yourself "he's not supposed to be able to do that" Im sure this isn't something professionals worry about, but for people just learning it, believe me, it can happen. people will try and trick you with move orders. the thing with accelerated dragon in my experience, I'm not a professional, just some guy who is learning it, you have to play it extremely precisely, for two reasons, if you don't, you'll get killed or if your opponent errs you won't get the continuation that equalizes or more. that's the thing in my opinion, not only does black have to play it precisely, white does too, if white doesn't play the exact right moves they can get stomped in the opening, and this happens more frequently than you would suspect at club level. probably doesn't happen at IM/GM level.
I found looking at the accelerated dragon games of GM Vladamir Malakhov very helpful, he has played it a bunch and I think his conclusion was something along the lines that at the IMGM level it's like a reliable drawing weapon or something, but real difficult to get any type of meaningful advantage, I think I read this in an interview he gave. but if something is a reliable drawing weapon at the IMGM level, it's probably more than solid at club level, even right up to around like 2000 or expert, maybe even a little above this. right? that's what I think anyway.
hello, im new to this website, started playing few days ago! seems a nice play to improve.
i have been taking a look at the acc dragon recently, and found different sources:
some suggesting: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 a5
and others suggesting Qa5 on move 7 instead of 0-0 for black, does anyone have any idea what's the difference between these two variations? is the Qa5 move newer than a5? was a5 refuted or did it lose popularity due to a specific variation?
i tried searching for experts comparaison on these 2 variations, but couldn't find any!
Any input is appreciated.
thank you in advance.
actually I think the a5 variation is the more modern move, I think Qa5 is kind of like the "old" move or something. maybe it has changed, I don't know, that's the last I heard. I don't know the exact details, but white can get in trouble if they don't play correctly in the a5 variation. and I think sometimes it's not good to play a5 if white makes a certain rook move in certain variations. sorry for the vagueness. I just don't know details off hand.
in that opening line you posted, instead of playing Bg7 if white takes the d pawn with the knight, you might want to consider playing Nf6, stopping white from playing c4.
This is named the semi-accelerated Dragon, and it has a (deservedly) bad reputation due to the continuation 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Nxc6 bc6 (6...dc6 does not equalize, either) 7.e5.
I don't believe you and neither does GM Dzindzi and Rybka (running on 16 cores), if I'm not mistaken there's a very playable line after e5.
What's the line ? Avoiding the Maroczy would be quite an achievement...
You can avoid the Maroczy, and tolerate something like that:
After that, the Maroczy looks like a super-dooper choice for Black...
1. regarding roman dzindzi's videos! well, i have most of his DVDs (including 66 and 67) but i prefer to have another source to rely on! (nothing personal, but his DVDs are a bit more commercial than educational! IMHO, it's like doing anything, just to sell more copies! ... i know that all those who make DVDs, have commercial targets, but i mean, if you compare Chessbase DVDs, Foxy series, and Roman's Labs, you will find that roman's quality is the poorest). so to sum up, i prefer to base my studies on other sources!
P.S: please note that in the book he did: " chess openings for black, explained" , he recommended playing the a5 variation instead of Qa5(the variation recommended in his DVD)", in addition to that, if you search for the same book for the white side, you will see a lot of critics done to this book because of many inaccurate analysis and refutable variations he gave!
2.regarding the level, well, i don't have a FIDE rating yet, mainly because im a little bit new to chess, but my level is around 2000-2050 (don't judge my rating here, i started playing last week, so it's gonna be higher soon hopefully)
3. regarding the move order dzindzi suggests to avoid the maroczy, he talks about it very briefly and says that black has good position, and he didn't even bother to talk about the variation in igor miladinovic's game, he only talked baout taking c6 after Be3, Bg7, and then Nxc6, bxc6, e5, here he says Nd5 is playable, (this move was also recommended by andrew martin in his foxy video on the acc dragon) but he continues and says that he prefers Ng8... and gives few quick lines, and that's it, no real deep analysis. (P.S: when he finished talking about this variation, he said that "if you feel that there are any sidelines not covered in this video, you can pick up any book about the acc dragon and find more analysis there) so there were no special analysis with rybka regarding this line!
4. regarding what WGM pogonina said, its true, at a much lower level than IMs/GMs, all these theoretical statements are not very applicable, but anyway, i prefer to chose something that is good to use against a 1200 or a 2500 player! that's better than wasting my time now, and then later on when my opponents become stronger/close to masters level, find out that i have to change my repertoire.
With due respect, this is about another variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nxc6 bc6 8.e5 and now both the pawn sac 8...Nd5 and 8...Ng8 are playable. Factly, a game of mine as Black with 8...Nd5 against FM Wagner is featured in a couple of theory books (it ended in a draw). I did not play something extravagant, just followed a sound analysis by GM Petursson.
In the above variation, 7...Nd5 just drops a pawn for nothing. Do not mix apples with oranges.
hello, im new to this website, started playing few days ago! seems a nice play to improve.
i have been taking a look at the acc dragon recently, and found different sources:
some suggesting: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 a5
and others suggesting Qa5 on move 7 instead of 0-0 for black, does anyone have any idea what's the difference between these two variations? is the Qa5 move newer than a5? was a5 refuted or did it lose popularity due to a specific variation?
i tried searching for experts comparaison on these 2 variations, but couldn't find any!
Any input is appreciated.
thank you in advance.