Good intro book to sicilian dragon?

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Avatar of 11thHeaven

I'm a Class A player (rated around 1900-2000) and I'm quite eager to adopt the dragon sicilian into my repertoire, and I'd like to know of a good book to help me do so. I have "Winning with the Dragon" by Chris Ward but it's quite old and doubtless outdated, plus I'm more interested in the Rc8 lines in the Yugoslav attack rather than the Qa5 ones he espouses.

Ideally, I'm looking for something that's relatively up to date and offers a wide ranging survey of most of the major lines, without going too indepth (well, it can, but not at the expense of breadth of coverage). I'm not overly concerned with extracting the utmost theoretical advantage out of the opening, and I might be interesting in trying a line even if the most recent theory points to a slight advantage for white after 20 precise moves. At my level, that stuff isn't so important, and the evaluations seem to be constantly changing in this opening anyway.

I do like the look of Edward Dearing's book, but it looks quite pricy. What do people suggest?

Avatar of 11thHeaven

Thanks for the reply - I've looked into that book a little, and it's certainly cheaper than Dearing's. What's stopping me is that its whole remit seems to be examining the very latest theoretical developments and passing judgement on them, which I don't think will be relevant to me or most of my opponents (or maybe, in the case of an opening such as the Dragon, am I wrong?) This is my impression of a lot of the ...Rc8 lines, at the highest echelons it seems to be struggling, but at my level this really won't be an issue, and I'm not so keen on getting a tome telling me to avoid these lines due to something that isn't very relevant to me or the opponents I'm playing.

I guess that I may be asking for a little much out of an opening book. It's a little frustrating that the market seems to be flooded with Najdorf books but not as much for the Dragon. I think I may pick up "starting out: the sicilian dragon", and base any furthur purchases off of the impression I get of the opening from that book.

 

That said, I'd still be very grateful for any other comments/views!

Avatar of 11thHeaven
streetfighter wrote:

The Ward book has you covered for all the main white tries APART from the ...Rc8 lines.

You don't need Dearing's book, although I have it and it has proved useful on occasion. It's not an 'easy read' though.

Instead of a book (and I hate myself for saying this, being a writer!) you should consider subscribing to chesspublishing.com - you can purchase just the Dragon option as I have done.

You then have access to all the dragon article archives, pdf/e-books, a Dragon forum which has more material than you could ever have time to read, and monthly updates covering the most recent developments.

Alternatively, book some Dragon coaching from me and i'll walk and talk you through all the ...Rc8 stuff

cheers,

andy


That's lucky - I was in fact thinking of PMing you and ask for advice on learning this opening (having seen you pen a few articles on it).

I've looked into subscribing to chesspub - it seems like I'd get a lot for the low price they charge. I'll go through "Starting Out: The Dragon", and if I still feel like pursuing this opening, I may very well subscribe.

Thanks for all the replies/advice!

Avatar of BattleManager

Edward Dearing's book, simon william's dvds and maybe starting out the sicilian dragon are a good introduction i think. Also take a look at the Rb8 lines, they are probably less theoretical than the Rc8 lines and just about as much exciting(but there's a drawback e4 c5 Nf3 d6 d4 cxd4 Nf6 Nc3 g6 Be3 Bg7 f3 Nc6 Qd2 0-0 Bc4 Bd7 h4! and now playing the chinese doesn't make sense and black should play h5 going into a soltis variation. However i still think it's worth taking a look at the chinese, i think simon's dvd explains it well.