Turkishlion Thematic Tourneys (Unrated - No Vacation) - Sicilian Defense: Dragon, Yugoslav Attack

The purpose of Turkishlion Thematic Tournaments;

Improvement of positional and tactical chess skills related to specific openings by studying master games. -I used wikipedia(in blue color) for general information and also Mato Jelic's game analysis videos or some other chess videos for study part. (http://chessschoolsa.wordpress.com/about-mato-jelic/)-

Main Advantages;

1- Smaller number of players so the tournaments start quicker.

2- Tournaments are unrated so there won't be any pressure about losing rating points.

2- The games are in "1 day per move" format so they will finish faster.

3- The tournaments are "No Vacation" tournaments so you won't worry about waiting for other players who constantly take vacations.

You have to be completed 3 games to enter the tournament because it is good to see how well you play with a specific opening against lower and higher rated opponents.

Time out threshold is 50%.

Good luck and enjoy!

Turkishlion

Yugoslav Attack against Sicilian Defence Dragon Variation

In chess, the move 9.Bc4 is one of the main options in the chess opening called the Yugoslav Attack, which is an attack in the Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Also known as the Rauzer System or the St George Attack, the Yugoslav Attack begins with the following moves:

1. e4 c5

2. Nf3 d6

3. d4 cxd4

4. Nxd4 Nf6

5. Nc3 g6

6. Be3 Bg7

7. f3 O-O

8. Qd2 Nc6

9. Bc4 Bd7

Statistically, Chessgames.com's database of nearly 1500 master games shows Win-Draw-Loss percentages for White to be: 46%-25%-29%. Similarly, Mega Database 2002 indicates that white scores 52% while 66%of the over 1200 games were decisive. 

One of Great Britain's strongest grandmasters John Emms notes that "I can safely say that the Yugoslav Attack is the ultimate test of the Dragon. White quickly develops his queen-side and castles long before turning his attentions to an all-out assault on the black king. To the untrained eye, this attack can look both awesome and unnerving".^[1]

White tries to break open the black king-side and deliver checkmate down the h-file, while Black seeks counter play on the queen-side with sacrificial attacks. Typical white strategies are exchanging dark squared bishops by Be3-h6, sacrificing a pawn and sometimes an exchange on h5, exploiting pressure on the a2-g8 diagonal, and the weakness of the d5 square.

Some typical themes for Black are exchanging White's light-square bishop by Nc6-e5-c4, pressure on the c-file, sacrificing the exchange on c3, advancing the b-pawn and pressuring the long diagonal. White will normally win a straight pawn attack, because Black has given White a hook on g6 to attack. Generally, White will avoid moving their pawns on a2/b2/c2, and so Black's pawn storm is nearly always slower than White's. Black can sometimes obtain an acceptable endgame even after sacrificing the exchange because of White's h-pawn sacrifice and doubled pawns.

The Yugoslav attack with 9. Bc4 results in extremely tactical and decisive battles. White keeps a firm grip on the center while advancing aggressively towards the enemy king with f2-f4-f5 and even g2-g3-g4. However, danger exists in overextending and allowing Black to gain the initiative with a deadly counter-attack. Black's strategy is centered around the half-open c file and his ability to push the a and b pawns. Throughout the entire course of the battle, Black will be looking to break the center with an advance from d6-d5. Black can even sometimes obtain a winning endgame even after sacrificing the exchange, because of White's h-pawn sacrifice, doubled isolated c-pawns and most importantly the lack of mobility of the white Rooks compared to the Black minor pieces.

Chess Lesson: Sicilian Defence - Dragon Variation - Yugoslav Attack (Game 1: Anand vs Kasparov)

Game 2: Tal vs Sviridov (Stuttgart, 1969)

Some Other Yugoslav Attack Games between Anand and Kasparov:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=55522