Sicilian Dragon for White: 9.Bc4 or 9.0-0-0?

I've been playing The Rauzer Variation (9.0-0-0) against the Sicilian Dragon, but I'm thinking of switching to the main line. I've had good results with 9.0-0-0 because if Black plays it like a normal Dragon with 9...Bd7, White will be able to save two tempos when the Black Knight gets to c4 (playing Bxc4 rather than Bc4, Bb3, then Bxc4.) On the other hand, I'm not liking the 9...d5 variations in the Rauzer, while the 12.Kb1 lines in the Yugoslav look right up my alley (aggressive, lots of calculation, Black has to know what he's doing or he's toast). I don't mind learning a lot of theory so that's not a factor in a decision. Do you think I should switch to 9.Bc4 or keep playing 9.0-0-0?

0-0-0 d5 Kb1 white can't lose if ya play it right

I've done a bit of analysis and I like White's positions in the Rauzer if Black plays 10...Nxd4. Seems I've been doing the wrong things lol...

Nxd4 e5 Nf5! (Nxf3 gxf3 is good comp for white) (and the trick after Nd7 is Bxd4 Nxe5 Qe3 Nc6 Bxg7 Kxg7 Nxd5 Qa5 b4!!) exf6 Bxf6 (exf6 Bc5 weird line) Nxd5 Qxd5 (basically forced?) Qxd5 Nxe3 Qd2 Nxd1 Qxd1 Be6 Bb5! white can't lose if ya play it good

Thanks for that helpful analysis, you are obviously a much better chess-playing guinea pig than I am

Just wondering, in the line you give Stockfish finds 13...Be6 rather than the queen sac 13...Qxd5, and I am certain that no one at my level will play Qxd5 unless they are crazy booked up, if Black doesn't play the queen sac should I just trade down to the endgame (which I'm pretty sure is winning as White can easily get a passed pawn but it's hard for Black to get one)?

Qxd5 is actually probably the only move...

if Be6 white can get advantage with Nxf6+ exf6 Bc5! Qxd2 (Re8 Bb5 Qxd2 Rxd2 basically transposition but with Bishop on b5) Rxd2 and its just a good position as 1. two bishops and 2. black has doubled pawns, a long term engine says +2 here for white

also if someone is booked up, they will play nf5 and either exf6 or Bxf6 and Qxd5, its not a crazy move

someone who is not booked up will play nxf3 or nd7

2 Guinea pigs discussing the intricacies of the Sicilian Dragon. Things you see on chess.com 😆

Thanks very much, seems 9.0-0-0 is stronger than I thought... There's probably lines in it that super GM's figure out with insane sacs and stuff to equalize, but no one I'll be playing against could find them in a million years!

I've played the Dragon for a long time with both colors against fairly strong opposition. Here's what I'd say. Long Castles is about equal to Bc4. Long Castles is more annoying for a Dragon player as it can lead to positional games. Bc4 is probably better if you are an attacking player while Long Castles is if you prefer to play positionally.

Well I have a match against my friend tomorrow  who I've played many times before, he plays the Dragon as Black and I wanted to give him a little surprise from a little guinea pig >:-)

I threw the position in the engine, waited for 2 hrs, quit at depth 50 when it said +1. That must be a pretty long term engine indeed!

i suggest before your game, really look at the lines with Nd7, Nxf3, and with Nf5 exf6 exf6 cuz those are tricky

Ok I will, I kind of expect him to play Nd7 so I'll focus a bit more attention on that. If all goes well I'll post the games up on the forum

how did it go?

He played e5 :-|

Whatever, I've learned a lot of valuable information for next time, and playing against the Dragon in general. Thank you!

+1 lol