Dragon players, you have to try the Accelerated!

When I started chess, the first opening I chose to play was the Sicilian Dragon. At the time, I didn't know anything about it other than I liked the name. A few years passed with me exclusively playing the Dragon against 1.e4. I found it to be a good opening other than one major problem, which was of course, the Yugoslav Attack. I often got the impression in my games that White didn't really know the theory, yet most of the time they still won just by following the basic ideas of "open the h-file, sac, sac mate" as Fischer said of his game against Bent Larsen. (Larsen himself would later play the Accelerated frequently and he has scored very well in it, had he played the Accelerated against Fischer that day I'm sure he would have at least drawn)

Anywhere here at club, or as I like to call it "future-master level", what I found annoying in the Sicilian Dragon is that I could tell my White opponents didn't know much theory, yet it was such a basic, effective attacking plan they didn't need to. The onus seemed to be on me as Black to know all the theory out to move 30.

Well with the Accelerated Dragon it's totally different, actually, it's even the opposite! To avoid losing against the Accelerated Dragon, it's White who must know what they're doing. If they don't, they often lose a pawn right in the opening or at the very least Black gets an advantage. When I started playing the Accelerated, my suspicion that my Yugoslav Attack playing opponents didn't know the exact theory was confirmed  as time and time again people, even a few relatively high rated class-A / expert level range players attempted to play the Yugoslav Attack against the Accelerated Dragon. So it's true, a lot of the people playing the Yugoslav Attack don't even know the differences between the Sicilians, much less the theory! This is an opening where they get punished for it very easily, and even if they know enough not to try the Yugoslav Attack they're often making mistakes.

But what about the Maroczy Bind? I love playing against this using the Gurgenidze system, which puts the White Queen opposite the fianchettoed dragon bishop, so the Queen has to move twice in the opening. White can hope for nothing more than a draw if they choose a opening where they have to play this way. Plans of playing for b5 or f5 comes very easily for Black. In this opening, Black has better control of the dark squares, and sometimes you can get a good knight (usually on c5) vs a bad light squared bishop endgame.

I hope I've convinced you all to try the Accelerated Dragon, especially if you're a normal Dragon player. Playing the Accelerated Dragon has been a cathartic experience for me, all the painful memories of those Yugoslav Attack losses now wiped away as those who try it against the Accelerated are effortlessly beaten down and defeated. No more auto-pilot hack attack plan for White! Yee haw!

I've played the accelerated dragon in the past and actually transitioned away from it due to poor performances on my part. I would need to look at my DB of games to see what my results actually were though. 

That said,  I never extensively studied the opening either.

Martin, did you use the Gurgenidze System against the Maroczy Bind? I started out playing the normal way against the Maroczy Bind, then I learned the Gurgenidze System which I find better, a step up I should say, and quite fun. The concept is simple, it's a move order where you make White delay the development of their dark square bishop, and thus force them to recapture the knight on d4 with their Queen, putting it in line with your Dragon bishop.

Perhaps the reason I like the Accelerated Dragon so much is that I used to play the normal Dragon, thus I have a fuller appreciation of the Accelerated. Plus a lot of the positions/motifs are similar, going from the normal Dragon to the Accelerated doesn't even feel like switching openings as all my experience playing the normal Dragon is helping me. The only difference is there's no Yugoslav Attack, well wait, that's not true, there are sometimes Yugoslav Attacks in the Accelerated but Black is up a tempo from the normal Dragon, and you can really feel that extra tempo in the games.

Also in one of the Banter Blitz youtube videos with Super GM Peter Svidler on the Chess 24 youtube channel, even Svidler got confused against the Accelerated Dragon and lost a pawn in the opening! He later went on to win the game anyway because his opponent was like 700 points lower than him, but even he said in the video that he was objectively lost out of the opening.

Ok but how do you ever win as Black in stuff like the Na4n Qxd2 Kxd2 Gurgenidze ending?

As I mentioned, I don't (and didn't) study openings that much and don't really know, without looking,  what exact variations may have been played.  I know I eventually went to the dragon from there and more recently I haven't played the Sicilian at all, except in a few casual games.

Though, I don't think most of my games were in book past move 5 or 6 anyway and would be lucky to find any games in the database past move 10. There may be some exceptions in my correspondence games. 

Thank you Dolphin27 for some feedback.

Yeah I like playing the Macrozy Bind myself.

I will honestly admit.

I have never heard of the Gurgenidze System until you mentioned it.

What is even more strange is the Accelerated players I have played again do not seem to play it at all.

I had to in fact look it up lol to see what you was talking about.

I believe I have only ever seen one line played by different Accelerated players.

The line is known as:

The Sicilian Defense/ Accelerated Dragon/Maroczy Bind/Breyer Variation

Which on the surfaces looks like it drops a knight.

However, after 8.Qxg4 black often plays 8...Nxd4

Followed with 9.Qd1 after which black has tryed 9...Ne6 or 9...e5

The line you are proposing seems very interesting I must say.

Sicilian Defense/Accelerated Dragon/Maroczy Bind/Gurgenidze Variation

Can anybody post the Gurgenidze variation in a virtual board please

@NuancedConfers  I'm sure reading Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual will help me. Plus positions like that are full of mini-traps, if you're familiar with the positions and analyze them, you can discover them. Also I don't mind a draw, especially not when I'm playing as Black. I think it's enjoyable and relaxing to just sit back, maintain a balance and/or build a fortress.

@Martin_Stahl I'm not an opening fanatic myself, I'd say I study them an average amount. When I was playing the regular Dragon I never learned much Yugoslav Attack theory. Here is why I like the Accelerated Dragon a whole lot better, it's not just that there's a fraction of the theory compared to the regular Dragon, it's also that the theoretical preparation pays off a lot more.

In the Accelerated Dragon White absolutely must know what they're doing or they're just going to end up worse. This is an opening against which Super GM Peter Svidler dropped a pawn during a blitz game. In regards to the Maroczy Bind and Gurgenidze variation, it's very simple and easy to learn because each move has an idea, to delay White's dark square bishop from coming out. Then to capture on d4 to draw the Queen there.

@X_PLAYER_J_X

That first line, the Breyer Variation, is one which GM Roman Dzindzichashvili used to recommend. He later discovered some problems with it so now he recommends the Gurgenidze variation, and has made some wonderful videos on it, as well as his friend and one time pupil GM Eugene Perelshteyn has made a great DVD for Empire Chess called Crushing White with the Accelerated Dragon. Finally GM Sergie Tiviakov uses the Gurgenidze variation and this is what he goes over in his Chessbase DVD. Then there are the books, this is another thing I like about the Accelerated, there are better study materials on it. With the normal Dragon it was like one book would say to do one thing, another said to do something else, etc. With the normal Dragon it was like a labyrinth, I couldn't even figure out which path to start down, much less really explore that path. With the Accelerated I don't have that problem.

@Chaturanga153 Thanks for the databases. I'll have to have a look at those sometime.

@Athaneal A user here on chess.com known for their blog, Samantha212, has made an excellent post about this. If anyone is thinking of trying the Gurgenidze variation this will tell you all you need to know to begin playing it.

http://www.chess.com/blog/Samantha212/breaking-out-of-the-maroczy-bind-in-the-sicilian-accelerated-dragon---part-2

Can't the gurgenidze system be avoided with an early Nc2?  

White scores around 62% (!) against the Gurgenidze variation after Bg5.  To put that in context, white only scores 56% against the regular Dragon, which is still considered a well-scoring opening for white.  Here's a typical game in the Gurgenidze, where black gets slowly driven off the board.  

In other words, it's fairly similar to the regular Maroczy, where black is condemned to fight from a passive position and possibly die a slow and painful death.  

@Parnon What database are you looking at? 365chess.com's doesn't show White scoring nearly that well. The main line for Black by the way is 6...d6 If they're really that concerned with stats (which are often misleading) people can see how this is scoring for themselves http://www.365chess.com/opening.php?m=13&n=1179&ms=e4.c5.Nf3.Nc6.d4.cxd4.Nxd4.g6.c4.Nf6.Nc3.d6&ns=3.3.4.37.45.47.46.48.1290.2634.2403.1179

It is free to make an account there and explore openings by the way.

@Fixing_A_Hole They can but I don't believe it's considered very critical. Samantha212 goes over this move in her blog post, showing this cool game between Timothy Taylor and Jeremy Silman http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1124819

@MorraMeister Yes, I'm so happy to have found and play this opening. Some players like Parnon may not like facing the Maroczy Bind but I don't mind at all. The ideas are clear, and as John Donaldson and Jeremy Silman wrote in their book "the Maroczy Bind is not so fearsome as was once thought. Black has many ways to break out, while quite often it is possible to manoeuvre around White's 'binding' pawns and show that they imprison White's pieces as much as they do Black's." Plus the name sounds cool "Maroczy Bind" sounds like a wizard's spell.This has a nice ring to it when people ask you "What are you doing?" "Oh I'm just studying the Maroczy Bind" It's an opening I enjoy studying the positions of and playing against.

Well, that game to me is largely irrelevant, at least as far as evaluating the Nc2 move(yes, Silman won the game but hardly because of Nc2).  From a practical point of view, it seems that Nc2 is much better than Be2 or any other developing move.  Yes you are "wasting" a tempo to relocate the knight, but it also keeps an extra piece on the board and you'd have to move the queen twice anyways if you allow Nxd4 from black.  That's just my .02.  

Apparently I have played this a lot less than I thought. I guess it is because most people in my area don't actually play the white side of the variation for me to go into the position (Bc4 has slightly more games in my OTB database).

From the base Accelerated Dragon position I only have 31 games notated across OTB and correspondence.  I've had 16 losses, 4 draws and 11 wins (as black).

Of those only 3 played c4 and I played Bg7.

That's neat that you've kept a database of your games Martin. Which of your Accelerated Dragon games are you most proud of? I'd like to see them, perhaps you can make a blog post.

@Fixing_A_Hole There are some lines against Nc2 where White gives up a pawn in exchange for the bishop pair and Black's dragon bishop, I think White is getting doubled isolated pawns as well in that variation. I'd personally be hesitant about that as Black but the pawn grabbing is not mandatory, there are other things Black can do. I watched Dzindzichashvili's DVD about that when I was half asleep, I remember enough to know that the move didn't seem that concerning to me. Someday I'll have to sit down and seriously look into that move.

I'll have to go through them. They are all 4 and 5 years old so I haven't played over them for a while.  Though, now that I'm looking more, some of those are time out games, early resignations, and one of the draws was a player that had to take some time away from the site.

My blindfold game may be a contender since I was able to go 22 moves before losing the thread (though the quality wasn't very good)

I showed the position on post #7

However, I can show it again if you want below:

Sicilian Defense/Accelerated Dragon/Maroczy Bind/Gurgenidze Variation

ECO B36

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6

The virtual board is below with the above moves.

On a side note:

I read what

Fixing_A_Hole mentioned on post #12

and

I read what

Dolphin27 mentioned on Post #14

I than tryed to make sense of there post for my own understanding etc.

You will not believe what I found out.

It is one of the most fascinating revelation I have ever seen.

Fixing_A_Hole and Dolphin27 are both right and wrong.

Again I am not saying this to try and seem like a know it all.

I am only saying this because the fascinating part is knowing and understanding how they are right and how they are wrong.

I find it bloody amazing how 2 different people can be right but not really right and can be wrong but not really wrong.

Its the most fascinating thing ever.

Now I will show you what both Fixing_A_Hole and Dolphin27 said.

OK so I showed you both of there quotes.

Now watch this:

The below moves are the main line move for the Gurgenidze Variation

ECO B36

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6

Now Take a real good look of the moves with a very fine eye!

Now reread Dolphin27 quote:

The main line for Black by the way is 6...d6

At first glance I showed you the diagram and the ECO moves.

You would think Dolphin27 is wrong because on the books the move being played at move 6 for black is 6...Nxd4.

However, Remember I told you Dolphin27 is wrong but not really wrong.

At the same time he is right but not really right.

So how does that happen?

Here it comes its going to blow your mind away!

6...Nxd4 is the main line move in the books but its only the second most popular move according to humans!!!!

Humans are playing 6...d6 the most!!!!

6...d6 is the most popular move by humans players!!!

WOW Amazing!!!

We have 2 moves here being played in this position.

Here comes the TWIST!!!!

Reread what Fixing_A_Hole quote said:

Now to understand this we need to look at the moves again.

As we look at the moves again ask yourself the question "When can WHITE play Nc2."

Remember how can white literally be able to move his knight to c2 at what moves!

In the below position!

ECO B36

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be2

After reviewing the above moves.

We have discovered the only time white can play Nc2 in the above book move position is at move 6.

However, It loses a pawn which isn't that great!

Obviously if white is losing a pawn for no reason he isn't going to play Nc2 at all.

Which goes to say its almost unthinkable for white to play Nc2 in the above position.

Now reread Fixing_A_Hole quote:

Can't the gurgenidze system be avoided with an early Nc2? 

At first glance you almost want to say no the system can't be avoided lol.

It drops a pawn for no reason!!

However, Remember I told you Fixing_A_Hole is wrong but not really wrong.

At the same time he is right but not really right.

We are investigators and we are trying to figure out how Fixing_A_Hole is both right and wrong at the same time!!!

TO FIND THE ANSWER WE HAVE TO GO TO THE HUMAN MOVE ORDERS!!!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be2 Nxd4 8.Qxd4

Now Take a real good look of the moves with a very fine eye!

Notice the similarities in the position to the book one.

Notice the differences in the position to the book one.

Now lets walk through it again and see when WHITE can play NC2!!!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Be2 Nxd4 8.Qxd4

DID YOU GUYS/GALS SEE IT???

AMAZING!!!!

At move 7 white can play Nc2 which does not lose a Pawn.

Once white plays Nc2 black is unable to tranpose into the Gurgenidze Variation.

It's the most amazing thing I ever saw.

Here is the strange thing lady's and gentlemen.

The line with 6...d6 which is the most popular move among humans has a higher winning percentage for white than the line with 6...Nxd4.

The line 6...d6 7.Nc2 is giving white better odd's than in the other continuation with 6...Nxd4 7.Qxd4 were upon the move Nc2 is not possible.

Human players are playing 6...d6 to keep the tension in the position with the hopes of simply tranposing.

White players have came up with a sneaky response which stops the tranposition HA HA.

White players have bascially said:

If your not going to take my knight. I am going to move it to c2 so you can't take it!!!!

@dolphin27, the database that I'm looking at is Mega 2013, based on 563 games with 8. Bg5.  If black plays d6 before Nxd4, hoping to avoid the Bg5 line, Nc2 is strong:

For Dragon players, I'd definitely recommend the Chinese if you're willing to do the legwork to learn it.  Dangerous, double-edged, sharp, and most importantly, sound... everything that a Dragon player could want.  As far as the Hyper-Accelerated, you still end up in similar bind-type setups to the normal accelerated, and although there's some variation in the types of positions, white keeps a similar edge.  Black can play for the attack in the hyper with the no-castle g5 lines, but those tend to favor white as well.

EDIT:  Read through some of the OP's first post - it's absurd at best and idiotic at worst to say that "white can hope for nothing more than a draw" if he moves his queen twice in the opening.  Who am I kidding, actually - there's no need to be close-mouthed about it.  OP has no idea what he's talking about, which is sad because he's the one advocating a certain line in his thread.  I would understand if his thread was titled something like "Class players will blunder in the Accelerated" (which would be equally nonsensical, as class players blunder frequently no matter what you play..), but to dogmatically claim it as superior to the regular Dragon is just ridiculous.

Yay the Chinese Dragon. Everyone is welcome to join the group dedicated to it: http://www.chess.com/groups/home/the-chinese-dragon

I'd never like to play against the Maroczy Bind simply because of its nature. The regular Dragon is just fine for me personally. If you stay clear of 10... Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 and instead play the Topalov (10 Bb3 Rc8 11 0-0-0 Nxd4 12 Bxd4 b5) and Chinese Variation (10 0-0-0 Rb8) the only extremely sharp line will be the Soltis with 10. h4 h5 11. 0-0-0 Ne5 12. Bb3 Rc8 13. Bg5 Rc5 (or 13. Bh6/13. Kb1 after which Black should reply 13... Nc4 to both of them).