Accelerated Dragon with Queenside Castling??

I recently bought the New Sicilian Dragon book from Everyman Chess. It's currently on its way so I haven't gotten the chance to look through it. However, I have read some Amazon reviews which states that it presents some novel ideas on implementing the dragadorf with queenside castling for black. 

I was just wondering if anyone had some ideas on whether the accelerated dragon might work well with queenside castling for black? The reason I ask is because I've been trying to work on developing new strategies for opposite side games where the opponent castles on the kingside. From what I have read, the accelerated dragon is a unique and aggresive counterstriking opening. However, it seems like black castles kingside in most games I've seen. 

You can read portions of the book on Amazon.

from the intro:

"On the downside, black may find it hard to castle."

and then later:

If you are developing all your pieces and then waiting until the kingside drama plays out before considering castling, this is not a straightforward system for queenside castling.

u ask something about a book u bought??

notmtwain thank you sir for the only meaningful response thus far 

You speak of priorities as if improving ones ranking is the only one. From the aesthetic standpoint, certain aspects of chess are fascinating to an individual irrespective of their utility. I think it's easy to forget that people can be interested in chess for aesthetic reasons as well as the ability to explore their own ideas on the board. I don't see how you can discourage that. I respect the literature and certainly plan on carefully reading the book. I just couldn't contain my excitement until it arrived and wanted to discuss the topic. No harm done?

The question I have for you is why do you want to castle queen side in the Accelerated Dragon?

Do you have any underlining idea associated with castling queen side?

Good question X_PLAYER_J_X. I was thinking about combat sports such as MMA and boxing where the southpaw fighter often has an advantage because most fighters are orthodox and are accustomed to fighting other orthodox fighters. It seems like the analogy can be made that kingside castling is typically considered to be more "orthodox". I wanted to work on gameplans with queenside castling to exploit this tendency. I've also reading Lorin D'Costa's book "Who Dares Wins!" which details several games where players castle on opposite sides and those games were all quite dynamic and exciting. With that in mind, I thought the accelerated dragon was a good fit because of 1. c5 2.Nc6 could be used to set up a fianchetto on the queenside quickly and then castle on the same side. However, it would seem one would have to play a variation of it in order for it to work properly. 

I agree with the OP.

I am not a fighter.

I am an artist

A modern day Picasso.

The chess board is my canvas!

I like to Bob Ross my games from time to time.

I play happy little moves.

If impaler42 wants more opposite side castling because he feels like having more aggression in his games.

Than frankly I think he should consider changing his line.

I believe the Sicilian Dragon would be a better fit.

Opposite side castling happens 90% of the time in the Sicilian dragon.

Thanks to the Yugoslav Attack which is the mainline.

It turns into a tactical slugg fest were the goal of winning is decided on who can checkmate the opponents king the fastest.

The Accelerated Dragon was made/designed as a way of reducing those aggressive types of position's.

It is considered to be slightly more positional in nature.

Bascially Sicilian dragon players who get tired of the tactical slugg fest of the Sicilian Dragon often seek out playing the Accelerated Dragon.

You can call me an idiot.

However, you can not disprove anything I have said.

Which I find very amusing.

jengaias wrote:

I wasn't willing to continue this but you do.I checked your games and frankly I was willing to apologise for my analogy to quantum mechanics but I realised that it was more than accurate.

In all things there is a learning cycle.What analogy you want me to use to make you understand that.You can't be an F1 champion before you learn how to drive.You like that analogy more?Studying accelerated Dragon will lead to you complaining that you don't improve in 6 months.Your next post will be advices for improvement.

Why you plays chess if not for improvement and seriously what nonsense are these about studying the aesthetic aspects of chess?So you bought the book why??Because when you fianketo your kingside you feel something like Da Vinci?Or maybe Michelangelo?It doesn't matter that it will actually do you more harm than good ,it doesn't matter that it will seriously hinder your ability to improve and  play better,  all you care is the aesthetic view of the board when you play Accelerated Dragon.

And I am suppose to be nice and encourage this?

I haven t yet read all of your posts cause they are lengthy lol... If he does not want your opinion then why is he posting here. Just private message a Grand Master or more experienced player... I hate people who start attention seeking and then start whining once they get the attention they WANT. Even better..have patience read your book! Studying is most likely the only way to get better...simply trying to run before he can walk...

The harsh truth of the matter is the following:

• Black just about NEVER castles Queenside in the Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, or Dragadorf.
• If your sole goal is to force the game into something where you castle queenside and your opponent castles kingside, you are clearly taking the wrong approach to chess.  No matter what you do, you must play the position without bias.  Any bias, like preference of which side to castle, or preferences of Bishop or Knight, will lead to nothing but total failure!

You may enjoy opposite side castling where you go Queenside, and he goes Kingside, but to try to force it is something only a chess moron would do.

Best you can do is play openings that might lead to a higher frequency of it, like maybe 1.e4 as White, which against the Sicilian, you can play the Open Sicilian, and if Black plays a Najdorf, Dragon, or Classical, you are in luck, but if he plays say, the Accelerated Dragon, which almost forces kingside castling by both players, or lines of the Scandinaivan or Caro-Kann where he castles queenside often, trying to re-invent the wheel to try to force the opposite is sheer stupidity.  Deal with the same side castling when it's appropriate!

It's just like Najdorf players that play against me and try to force the Najdorf, completely ignoring what I'm doing.

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6, I play 5.f3 instead of 5.Nc3, which is known as the Prins variation, and White's next move in most lines is going to be 6.c4, and so a move like 5...a6?! has no purpose what-so-ever, and is just outright bad.  Black has 3 legit options, 5...e5, transposing directly to an accelerated dragon, or playing a hedgehog setup.  I get opponents that try to force Najdorf moves when they just flat out don't work!

Trying to force Queenside Castiling by yourself and Kingside Castling by the opponent is just as naive as trying to force Najdorf Strategy when what you have is not a Najdorf, but rather a Maroczy Bind structure!

Take what is given to you.  Don't go trying to re-invent the Wheel.  Dragon and Accelerated Dragon, castle Kingside.  Dragadorf, if you ever castle at all, it will end up being Kingside way more often than not, but staying in the center is usually what Black must do, at least early on!

Oh, and your subject line is spot on!  Queenside Castling in the Accelerated Dragon is a Blunder!  (Hence the two question marks in the subject line!)

I've also read that both the sicilian defense and queenside castling are two ways of creating imbalances on the board leading to an asymmetrical game. That's part of why I was thinking that they might work well together. 

Thanks for this great post. I agree that it would be naive to force a castle when the game does not explicitly call for it. 

Compliment**

jengaias wrote:

CamelsOfYaQub wrote:

Compliment**

Wow!!!One more gentleman.Thank you for the correction.

Welcome.

I wouldn't have put it as bluntly nor as rudely as jengaias, but I agree with what he is trying to say. Speaking as a huge lover of the sicilian dragon, it is so hard to even play the standard lines because there are so many move variations to think about; unless you can fully appreciate the beauty of the standard lines/theory (something that can only be grasped at the higher levels of chess), creating novelty variations seems rather moot. At your level of play (1400ish), you really aren't good enough to create viable novelty moves, especially in a sharp opening like the sicilian dragon (or accelerated sicilian). (X_Player buddy... of course he won't disprove it, do you have any idea how long it would take to explain the accelerated dragon? That's like a day-long lecture for the average player and an even longer one for pro players)

But while we are on the topic of queenside castling for black (especially if white castles kingside), it seems rather silly to do so. From my perspective, you seem to be castling on a very vulnerable side where 1-2 of your queenside pawns are likely out of position already or traded. Furthermore, considering that I'd still try to focus my attack on breaking white's queen side (since my fianchettoed bishop is facing that direction), I want to activate my king side rook to the queen side. Castling king side is the easiest, not to mention safest way to do so.

Meh, I'm not an expert on sicilian dragon so don't take me too seriously.

Thank you for admitting the truth.

Have a nice day

jengaias has good points but its his delivery that needs work. I don't see how anyone can approve of behavior like that from a chess player at his level. But it seems like I may be better off studying the standard lines of the sicilian defense. You make a great point about the queenside pawns being out of position.