Sicilian

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Dragon vs Najdorf?

I am new to the Sicilian and want to play a sound but very aggressive variation. What variation of the Sicilian fits this description? The variation would need to be completely sound at the GM level. 

Avatar of Jeonha

Accelerated Dragon or regular? What is the difference as far as qualify of play. 

Avatar of kindaspongey

In 2014, Pete Tamburro wrote, "... You will see [in Openings for Amateurs] the reply to 1.e4 to be the great reply of the open games with 1...e5. The Sicilian Dragon is presented as an alternative. ... I have found that scholastic players take to the Sicilian Dragon very quickly. ... A cautionary note: the Dragon is good at club level, but as you start facing better players you're going to find yourself memorizing tons of lines and the latest analysis, ... From my experience with coaching players below 1800, you won't need to do that too much. ..."

"As a professional player, I participate in many opens. I need at least 7.5/9 for the first place so I have little margin for mistakes. ... It suffices to mention the 6.Bg5-attack with forced variations all the way up to move thirty or more, to understand my reluctance to use the Najdorf. ... The Dragon is even more unfit for a main repertoire. The same long narrow forced variations, many dead drawn endgames in some lines without h4, and on top of all - the unbearable sight of the d5-square, where one White piece replaces another. ..." - GM Alexander Delchev (2006)

"... The main difference is that [in the Accelerated Dragon] Black chooses to fianchetto earlier and leaves his d7-pawn at home. In some variations this can prove to be advantageous to Black. We saw in the Dragon that Black often tried to engineer a ...d6-d5 break. In the Accelerated Dragon, Black can aim for an immediate ...d7-d5, thus effectively gaining an extra tempo. ..." - GM John Emms (2009)

"... The main consideration for Black between choosing the 'normal' Dragon and the Accelerated Dragon is that White can employ the so-called Maroczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon. This restraining setup ... ensures White a solid space advantage, but Black has a number of ways to deal with it. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)

"... overall the Accelerated Dragon remains a solid option for Black. ..." - GM John Emms (2009)

"[1 e4 c5 2 Nf3] g6 is an alternative route to the Accelerated Dragon ... Black steers clear of the Rossolimo Variation (2...Nc6 3 Bb5), but he has to be prepared for some other lines, most notably [3 d4 cxd4] 4 Qxd4 and 3 c3. ..." - GM Paul van der Sterren (2009)
"[The Hyper Accelerated Dragon is] not much better, or worse than the regular Accelerated Dragon. The c3 systems after 2...g6 is nothing to worry about, and the same goes for the 4.Qxd4 line. You do avoid Yugoslav attack mainlines with both systems (and there are several good ways to do that), but the major headache is (of course) the Maroczy." - IM pfren (January 19, 2018)
"Active plans against the Maroczy are quite risky, positonally- so Black has to meet white's clear space advantage with a lot of patience, and proper handling of the so-called 'dark squared strategy'. Most class players are not very good handling either of these requirements." - IM pfren (March 24, 2017)
"... the Maroczy Bind ... requires quite sophisticated positional understanding to play well. What I've noticed is that even if club players are aware of this line they tend to play it badly for White, ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)