Anish Giri - Chessable Lifetime Repertoires: Dragon Sicilian

[Event ?]

[Site ?]

[Date ????.??.??]

[Round ?]

[White Introduction]

[Black Sicilian Dragon Intro #1]

[Result *]

1. e4 c5

{ The ambitious Sicilian Defense! Black is fighting for the center but from the side, without going for a symmetrical pawn structure. }

2. Nf3 d6 3. d4

{ The Open Sicilian. The first five moves of the Sicilian Dragon are the same as in the Najdorf on which I also have a freshly published course. }

3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3

{ Up until this point, it is not clear what type of Sicilian Black is going to play. There is the Classical Sicilian with 5Nc6 and the Najdorf with 5a6 , but this course deals with the most romantic and aggressive of all Sicilians: The Dragon. }

5 g6

{ The move that defines the Dragon Sicilian. This opening is named after the pawn structure h7-g6-f7-e7-d6 that has the shape of a Dragon @@StartBracket@@at least thats what they brainwashed me to believe when I was a kid@@EndBracket@@ and, incidentally, the name also reflects the spirit of the variation. The Dragon is notoriously ambitious, risky and reckless. However, when going over the lines during one of my many training sessions for the Candidates tournament, I discovered that its reputation for being dubious is rather undeserved. The Dragon has always been a popular and very successful opening for amateurs and club players, but I believe that, in light of the groundbreaking discoveries I will present in this course, it can be played all the way up to the very highest level. Now that I have some experience with the French and the Najdorf course, I believe I can strike a very fine balance between presenting cutting-edge, top-level chess theory and offering clear and practical guidance to players of all levels. }

6. Be3

{ By far the most played and also the most dangerous setup, called the Yugoslav Attack. It makes up the main body of this course, but of course, all the sidelines on move 6 are thoroughly covered, too. }

6 Bg7

{ The idea of the Dragon is to develop the bishop to the long diagonal, while also keeping the central pawn structure e7-d6 intact. Interestingly, this often means that, besides going for an attack on the queenside, Black is also often happy to enter an endgame, as his pawn structure is excellent and there is not much White can offer in return for our pressure along the semi-open c-file. White, on the other hand, will try to trade off the pride of our position @@StartBracket@@the g7-bishop@@EndBracket@@ with Qd2 and Bh6 @@StartBracket@@or Bd4 in some cases@@EndBracket@@ and use the g6-pawn as a target for an attack on the kingside with h4-h5. }

7. f3 O-O

{ The trendy, so-called Dragodorf system with 7a6!? in which Black tries to stay flexible and play a combination of the Dragon @@StartBracket@@6 g6@@EndBracket@@ and the Najdorf @@StartBracket@@6 a6@@EndBracket@@, played a couple of times by Magnus Carlsen @@StartBracket@@!@@EndBracket@@ will be covered in the bonus chapter, but the main recommendation is the traditional Dragon, which I find more reliable and sound. }

8. Qd2 Nc6

{ And now we landed in the main tabia of the Dragon Yugoslav Attack. Here, White has to choose between the old main line with 9.Bc4 and the more modern approach with 9.O-O-O allowing d5, which, as it turns out, doesnt immediately solve all the opening problems. }

9. Bc4 Nxd4

{ My mainrecommendation. It will be thoroughly examined in the course. } *

[Event ?]

[Site ?]

[Date ????.??.??]

[Round ?]

[White Introduction]

[Black Sicilian Dragon Intro #2]

[Result *]

1. e4 c5

{ The ambitious Sicilian Defense! Black is fighting for the center but from the side, without going for a symmetrical pawn structure. }

2. Nf3 d6 3. d4

{ The Open Sicilian. The first five moves of the Sicilian Dragon are the same as in the Najdorf on which I also have a freshly published course. }

3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3

{ Up until this point, it is not clear what type of Sicilian Black is going to play. There is the Classical Sicilian with 5Nc6 and the Najdorf with 5a6 , but this course deals with the most romantic and aggressive of all Sicilians: The Dragon. }

5 g6

{ The move that defines the Dragon Sicilian. This opening is named after the pawn structure h7-g6-f7-e7-d6 that has the shape of a Dragon @@StartBracket@@at least thats what they brainwashed me to believe when I was a kid@@EndBracket@@ and, incidentally, the name also reflects the spirit of the variation. The Dragon is notoriously ambitious, risky and reckless. However, when going over the lines during one of my many training sessions for the Candidates tournament, I discovered that its reputation for being dubious is rather undeserved. The Dragon has always been a popular and very successful opening for amateurs and club players, but I believe that, in light of the groundbreaking discoveries I will present in this course, it can be played all the way up to the very highest level. Now that I have some experience with the French and the Najdorf course, I believe I can strike a very fine balance between presenting cutting-edge, top-level chess theory and offering clear and practical guidance to players of all levels. }

6. Be3

{ By far the most played and also the most dangerous setup, called the Yugoslav Attack. It makes up the main body of this course, but of course, all the sidelines on move 6 are thoroughly covered, too. }

6 Bg7

{ The idea of the Dragon is to develop the bishop to the long diagonal, while also keeping the central pawn structure e7-d6 intact. Interestingly, this often means that, besides going for an attack on the queenside, Black is also often happy to enter an endgame, as his pawn structure is excellent and there is not much White can offer in return for our pressure along the semi-open c-file. White, on the other hand, will try to trade off the pride of our position @@StartBracket@@the g7-bishop@@EndBracket@@ with Qd2 and Bh6 @@StartBracket@@or Bd4 in some cases@@EndBracket@@ and use the g6-pawn as a target for an attack on the kingside with h4-h5. }

7. f3 O-O

{ The trendy, so-called Dragodorf system with 7a6!? in which Black tries to stay flexible and play a combination of the Dragon @@StartBracket@@6 g6@@EndBracket@@ and the Najdorf @@StartBracket@@6 a6@@EndBracket@@, played a couple of times by Magnus Carlsen @@StartBracket@@!@@EndBracket@@ will be covered in the bonus chapter, but the main recommendation is the traditional Dragon, which I find more reliable and sound. }

8. Qd2 Nc6

{ And now we landed in the main tabia of the Dragon Yugoslav Attack. Here, White has to choose between the old main line with 9.Bc4 and the more modern approach with 9.O-O-O allowing d5, which, as it turns out, doesnt immediately solve all the opening problems. }

9. O-O-O

{ This is the modern main line and a very critical continuation. The established theory is that Black should defend a slightly worse position here, making the whole Dragon a lot less attractive than what it used to be. Recently, however, while looking through older and more dynamic variations, I discovered a hidden way, played in only a handful of games, which seems to give a new twist to the traditional approach of dealing with this critical system. }

9 d5 10. exd5

{ This is the main line, although there are quite a few trickysidelines that are covered in the designated chapter. }

10 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4 e5

{ And now I propose to go for the traditional and more conceptual 12 e5! keeping the g7-bishop alive for now, instead of the modern solution with @@StartFEN@@r1bq1rk1/p3ppbp/2p3p1/3n4/3B4/2N2P2/PPPQ2PP/2KR1B1R b - - 1 12@@EndFEN@@12Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 , where Black is hoping to hold a solid, but not a very fun position. With the help of the most powerful modern chess engines, I was able to prove that the old masters werent betrayed by their intuition when they decided to go for the natural 12 e5 here, although truth be told, we will alreadydeviate from the old theory on the next move. }