Download PGN of May ’25 Dragon Sicilian games
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Classical Dragon 6.Be3 a6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.h4 h5 [B72]
We kick this month’s update off with Aldar Burentegsh - Dau Khuong Duy and yet another impressive performance by the talented young Vietnamese IM. I am in little doubt that after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nf6 6.Be3 a6, had White have played 7 f3 then we would have seen another game with the fascinating 7...e5 8 Nb3 Be6 system championed by this wonder kid but after 7.Be2 seemingly steering us into Classical Dragon waters, advancing the e-pawn is not appropriate. Hence 7...Bg7 when White decided against short castles and couldn’t resist 8.h4 which was automatically met by 8...h5:
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I’m kind of thinking that 9.f3 was probably inevitable sooner or later when 9...Nbd7 10.Qd2 b5 was very Dragadorfy. White then looked to take the positional route through 11.a4 b4 but castling kingside is never going to be as appealing with a loose pawn on h4 and 12.Nd5?! Nxd5 13.exd5 Bb7 14.0-0 0-0 15.Bh6 Nf6 16.Rad1 Bxd5 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Nf5+ gxf5 19.Qg5+ Kh7 20.Rxd5 e6! basically left Black a clear pawn up and contrary to White’s plans, destined to do all the attacking!
Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.h3 Bd7 9.f4 Bg7 10.Nf3 [B72]
The game Cabiativa, JE- Avila Pavas, S was certainly a lot of fun and from a Black perspective in the opening, very accurate.
We’re talking the Hungarian Dragon where after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 White opted to side-step the 8 Qd2 Nxd4 main line not through 8 Bc4 but with 8.h3 That aside one idea behind this is to facilitate g2-g4 if Black were to castle kingside soon but perhaps more likely is a switch in structure with an f3-f4 (bringing f4-f5 or e4-e5 into play) advance instead, with the text handily covering the g4-square. In fact, that’s exactly what happened on this occasion as 8...Bd7 9.f4 Bg7 and then 10.Nf3 hit the board:
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White had avoided the trade of knights and particularly with the g4-square covered was seemingly looking to break with e4-e5. Certainly that should always be a rational fear for Black who now prevented it through 10...Qa5 and then after 11.Qd2 confidently (and as it transpires accurately) entered the complications of 11...Qb4! 12.Bd3 Ng4! 13.Nd5 Qxb2 14.0-0 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Rb8! 16.f5 Bh6 17.Qf2 g5 emerging unscathed a pawn up with the bishop pair to boot. Of course, life is nether that easy and when an endgame was finally reached, it didn’t go according to plan if ultimately the desired result was ultimately achieved!
Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 Bd7 9.Bb3 Bg7 10.Qd2 Na5 11.0-0-0 Nxb3+ [B72]
The game Levitan, C- Matinian, N was another Hungarian Dragon where after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 again White looked to avoid the original main line, this time through 8.Bc4 Pretty standard then was 8...Bd7 9.Bb3 Bg7 10.Qd2 Na5 11.0-0-0 Nxb3+ when White faced the pretty common scenario of which way to recapture:
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The decision in this game was 12.Nxb3 but after 12...a5 13.a4 Rc8 14.Kb1 0-0 the a4-pawn was a target with ...Qe8 in Black’s thoughts. With that in mind, White returned with 15.Nd4 but after 15...Rc4 16.Ndb5?! Bxb5 17.axb5 a4 18.Qd3?! Qc8 19.Bd4 a3, White’s queenside was under pressure with tactics incoming.
Classical Dragon 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3 Nc6 9.a4 [B73]
Okay so spoiler alert, the high-level encounter Wen Yang - Li Chao2 wasn’t a thriller but in 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3 Nc6 9.a4 the site was introduced to a new move/variation:
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We’ve always understood 9 Nb3 to be the main move, preventing the thematic ...d5 break and indeed given 9...d5 is objectively the best response to 9 h3, 9 Kh1 and even 9 Qd2, my first investigation was how that fared here too. My conclusion is in the annotation but instead here we saw 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bd7 11.a5 occur with White continuing his plan of putting Black’s queenside under pressure. Potentially there could be a question about the a7-pawn or the b6-square but neither of those were particularly relevant in the game continuation of 11...Bc6 12.e5?! Ne4! 13.exd6 Nxc3 14.Bxc3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Qxd6 16.Qxd6 exd6 when Black had emerged with the slightly favourable endgame.
Dragadorf 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 Qc7 [B75]
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 whilst the less committal 8...Nbd7 has had the most practical encounters, it’s fair to say that 8...h5 has overtaken the original 8...b5 in popularity. Following 9.Bc4 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 in Deepan, C - Grigoryan, K2 we then saw 10...Qc7 with Black again refraining from launching his b-pawn,
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That did though happen after 11.Bb3 with 11...b5 12.Kb1 Bb7 a position we have previously examined but with ...Rc8 deployed instead of ...Qc7.
I have to say though that it worked out just fine for Black in 13.h3 Ne5 14.g4 Nfd7 15.gxh5 Rxh5 but then with White deploying 16.Qg2 the Armenian GM somehow lost the plot or at the very least his sense of danger. In contrast White had his tactical wits about him and consequently punished Black’s 16...Nc4?? with 17.Ne6!! fxe6 18.Qxg6+ Kd8 19.Qxg7 Nde5 20.f4 Nxe3 21.fxe5 Nxd1 22.Rxd1 basically leaving Black lost in a big lesson to learn.
Dragadorf 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.g4 b5 9.g5 Nfd7 10.a4 [B75]
Another Dragadorf but in Martin, N - Gunnarsson, J after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6, White deployed 8.g4 before Black got in ...h5 to prevent such a kingside expansion.
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However then after 8...b5 9.g5 Nfd7 10.a4 it was never going to be easy to switch to positional mode when that would usually be twinned with short castles behind an at home pawn on g2! Play continued with 10...bxa4!? when 11.h4 Nc5 12.h5 e6 was double-edged. Yes, the game could easily have gone either way until 13.Qd2 Bd7 14.Qh2?! Qb6 prompted the asking for trouble 15.0-0-0?! and 15...a3! 16.bxa3 Nc6 17.hxg6 fxg6 18.Nde2?! Ne5! landed White in very hot water.
Hope you’re all well; back soon! Chris
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