Top 2 popular chess openings for black.

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Kai567

Hello!This is a top 2 countdown,have a look at it!

2.The French Defense Winawer Variation

1.The Sicilian Defence Modern Dragon Variation

ajttja

um... that isn't the dragon, this is:



ThrillerFan

Either that, or if by "Modern Dragon", he means "Accelerated Dragon", then it would be 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6

Also, ajttja, take away 6.Be3 Bg7, and you have the Dragon.  After 5.g6, while 6.Be3 Bg7 most often leads to the Yugoslav Attack (7.Be2 would transpose to the Classical Dragon), White does have other options, and it's still a Dragon:

6.g3 - There's a whole book from about 10 years ago that's a repertoire for White against the Sicilian based on Fianchettoing the Kingside against virtually anything

6.Be2 - Leads toward the Classical Variation

6.f4 - The Levenfish Attack.  I actually played this line one time in an over the board a while back via transposition from another opening:  1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 (Pirc - Austrian Attack) c5 (Very odd, usually 4...Bg7 is played first) 5.Nf3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 and you have a direct transposition to the 6.Bg7 variation of the Levenfish Attack:  1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.f4 Bg7.

There may be some whacko, off the wall variations, but those 3 are the 3 main ones aside from the Yugoslav.

Also, it's highly doubtful that these are the 2 most popular for Black.  The Najdorf is played far more than the Dragon, and the French Winawer isn't all that terribly popular at the top level.  If I had to guess what the top 2 are, I'd say probably the Najdorf is first, and either the Petroff or allowing the Ruy Lopez would be second.