How to play against Bc4 as a Sicilian Dragon player

I'm an intermediate player that plays the Sicilian Defense against 1. e4. I play 2. ..d6 after 2. Nf3 and against the open Sicilian I play the Dragon Variation. I like this variation because I am very comfortable in positions with a fianchetto bishop on g7. (I play the KID against d4) The difficulty I'm having is determining what to play against all the various responses white can make vs 1. ..c5. I try and play 2. ..d6 against all of the variations because I heard it was the best way to not get move ordered into an opening I'm not comfortable with. But after my opponent plays Bc4 I feel like I'm forced to play e6 which makes it basically impossible to get a dragon like set-up and the games become very slow and positional. While I generally win if I play e6 and just play solid, I don't enjoy these kinds of games. I'm wondering if more experienced Sicilian Dragon players have any insight on how to play against this in a more tactical and attacking fashion. All responses are welcome and appreciated.

I’m going to assume that as a Dragon player that you play the Dragon setup against the Closed Sicilian as well? The easiest way to play the Dragon setup against the Bowdler is to go with a c5-d6-e6-g6 pawn setup, with knights on c6 and e7, the DSB in its place on g7, and then pull the traditional Dragon queenside push with Rb8 (and a6 if necessary) b5 b4 a5.

@1

"after my opponent plays Bc4 I feel like I'm forced to play e6"
++ No, you are not forced. You can play 1 e4 c5 2 Bc4 g6.

"impossible to get a dragon like set-up" ++ You can play ...g6 and ...Bg7 against everything

"the games become very slow and positional"
++ If white does not play d4, then the game is slower indeed.

Yeah but after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 I can't play g6 without my opponent having the opportunity to go 4. e5 dxe5 5. Nxe5 threatening the fork on f7 you have to play e6 to stop the fork. Same thing if I go Nf6 before going g6.

I looked into the line 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 g6 and while after 4. Ng5 black's best move is .. e6 which leaves a structure that is weak on the dark squares. This line is still fine for black, but after 5. d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nf6 7. e5 black must know the move .. Nc6 (attacking the queen) 8. Bb5 Qa5+! to gain an advantage. This will lead to a lot of trades after 9. Nc3 Qxb5 10. Nxb5 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 dxe5, with black winning the bishop pair and a pawn, but with a wacky structure. Without preperation this way of playing would be very scary, but since I've just looked into it I could see myself comfortably playing g6 after my opponent plays Bc4.

@4
On 4 e5 not 4...dxe5, but just develop 4...Bg7.
Only with your knight on f6 you get trouble after e5.
@5
Yes, the line you gave is fine for black.

One line I am struggling to make work is 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bc4. Playing 4. ..g6 is asking for 5. e5 dxe5 6. Nxe5 e6, which will allow the fianchettoed bishop on g7 but is uncomfortable to play since the d pawn will be missing. And after 4. ..Nc6 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 I can't play 6. ..g6 because of 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5, in which the knight on f6 must move because 8. ..dxe5 9. Bxf7+! wins a queen. I also can't play 3. ..g6 instead of Nf3 because it leads to an unfavorable position after 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. e5 Nc6 7. Bb5 dxe5 8. Qxe8+ Kxe8. Out of the lines I looked at the best to me is the first one with 3. ..Nf6 and 4. ..g6, but if there is something I'm missing I would love to get some more input.

I've been battleling the 2.Bc4 players for my entire chess career and hated them. Until i began to realize how easy i get to play for an advantage as black. just look at this

your goal is to basicly play b5 and d5 and overrun the center

of course you can play 2.g6, but you gotta be prepared to transpositions

I do not play the Dragon, so I cannot answer you specifically, but in general terms, I can tell you that you clearly need to learn to play more objectively. Just because you play X in the main line of the Y defense does not mean you can play that setup or expect the same center or whatever against everything.

Examples:

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4, Black won't be fianchettoing the datk-squared Bishop anytime soon, so don't expect a dragon setup.

After 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3, Black will get killed if he tries to play a dragon setup

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6, Black has a "Dragon Setup", but it is NOTHING like the Dragon because the opening is based on what BOTH players do, not 1 player.

Going with another opening, the French is often played by those that enjoy a blocked center, but to master it, you must not be reliant on a blocked center every time.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 and 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 give you the blocked center, but the following don't, and you must be flexible:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 dxc4 6.Qg4

1.e4 e6 2.b3 d5 3.Bb2

1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e5 c5 4.b4

The main point behind all of this is that you cannot take the "main line" of any opening and just try to parrot the same ideas against other variations and sidelines.

Another prime example is the Kings Indian. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 and now in the Classical Mar Del Plata, 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5, Black storms the kingside. Well, when I was an over the board 1800 player, I played 1.d4 as White and played the Four Pawns Attack against the Kings Indian. I would get 1700 level opponents that just assume Black's idea in the Kings Indian is to storm the kingside. This only works in the Mar Del Plata because the center is blocked. The center is not blocked in the 4 pawns, and any clown that played moves like ...f5 against me got killed.

Openings, whether the Dragon, French, Kings Indian, or anything else, are merely about getting to a playable middlegame that you understand. A French plays a lot differently than an Alekhine, for example. It is NOT about memorizing moves and parroting them against all white setups!

Now this is where I cannot be "Dragon Specific", but using the French since that is my main weapon against e4, I shall illustrate the point:

Most beginners think the French is an opening that leads to a blocked center. It can, but it does not have to. There are 5 different types of pawn center:

The blocked center - the center is closed and pawns are immobile on multiple files. Examples include the advance French and King's Indian Mar Del plata.

The mobile center - one side has a central pawn mass that is mobile, not blocked. Examples include the Alekhine Four Pawns and Exchange Grunfeld.

The Static Center - A single file of pawns is blocked with potential pawn breaks on neighboring files. Examples include Exchange QGD, Exchange Caro.

Open Center - At least one file is completely open. Examples include Petroff, Berlin, Exchange French

Dynamic Center - Everything else, including amorphous pawn structures, IQP centers, etc.

So using the French, you have to be good with not just the Closed center, but also the Open Center (Exchange) and Dynamic Center (a myriad of lines where either White or Black gets an IQP).

A Dragon player clearly must know the dynamic center, but there are probably others when you factor in anti-sicilians, like I have seen the c3-sicilian lead to an open center before. So you have a lot of work to do if you are at a point where you think you can force a certain type of play as Black against all white players that play 1.e4.

e6 is typically a bad move in the Dragon, since d6 becomes weak if the bishop is not on e7.

In many lines with 0-0-0 Black simply plays Rc8, Na5 and Nc4 after which White has nothing better than exchanging the bishop for the knight.

@ThrillerFan I greatly appreciate the in depth response you gave. I'm currently working on figuring out my repertoire for the Sicilian defense (if that is the right terminology) and I was trying to put together the answers I'd play against common responses to get the most comfortable position for me and my play style. The main thing I wanted to try and avoid when constructing this repertoire is giving my opponent the opportunity to transpose the position into a Sicilian I'm not familiar with. I now understand I might've taken this concept a little too far beyond preventing transpositions into an unfamiliar opening. I;ve even gone as far as to play d6 on move 2 against the Alapin rather than a normal response. I will reconsider my opening choices as black for the Sicilian to both try and avoid these transpositions but still maintaining a strong and diverse Sicilian repertoire. I greatly appreciate all other responses to this post and will be taking to heart as much advice as possible from this forum.

Yeah I play Najdorf, but against anti-sicilians, I cant play the najdorf, against Nc3 on move 2 you can play d6 to avoid some transposition to unfamiliar open sicilians. Because they can play Nf3/Ne2 next and go for d4 anyway. Against closed sicilian I pllay g6 and Bg7, because its not a dragon or najdorf anyway. Like you said playing d6 against 2. C3 (alapin) is just inferior and you should know Nf6 or d5. Like you said you dont get a dragon there anyway. Against Bc4 its just better to play e6 to block the diagonal

So since e6 is the best response to Bc4, how do you guys deal with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4? Do you play e6 anyways and transpose into a classical sicilian or is Nf6 better?

I'm just not sure if I should be trying to get similar positions despite the different move order or if I shouldn't be concerned with it and should just try to play what is best in the position even though there is an opportunity to transpose into a more familiar opening.

Before asking this please read all the comments on this forum.

I have read all the comments on the forum. I saw the things you've posted but they were all against 2. Bc4 and didn't look into playing against Bc4 after Nf3 had been played. This makes a difference because after Nf3 I play d6 to play into the dragon variation and all the lines that you've shown don't play d6 and instead look to play d5 breaking open the center.