Download PGN of June '09 Dragon Sicilian games

Getting the miniatures out of the way we have:

Anon - Daley,J which was sort of a very offbeat Yugoslav Attack but definitely a very impressive display from a young player demonstrating some nifty Dragon tactics.

Lojanica - Jones was officially a Chinese Dragon but White moves off the beaten track and then makes a blunder of epic proportions by somewhat under-estimating the power of the Dragon bishop!

Black to play and win!

Moving up a gear and Yu Shaoteng-Le Quang Liem brings to the table a rare idea against the problematic 12 Kb1 in the form of the pawn sacrifice 12...b5:

We could well be seeing more of this in the future.

Fedorchuk - Laurent saw another outing with the intriguing early ...h5. Black delays castling so it's not strictly a 9 0-0-0 variation, especially as White soon parks his bishop on c4 anyhow.

I was going to say that Ivanchuk - Carlsen was a more regular 9 0-0-0 variation, but that isn't quite true as although it is 9 ...d5, Black dabbles in one of the relative side lines and then hits his opponent with the rare 14...Qc7:

Black seems to have plenty of reasonable options available to him these days.

When I first introduced the Accelerated Dragadorf to this site I suggested a particular line that might be the critical test and Kamsky - Hess features just that variation:

Previous action on this site has suggested that Black is holding his own here, and this alters nothing.

Finally, I wonder if we will ever see the likes of Brooks - Kudrin again? Yep, I can't really see 6 Bb5+ and 7 g4 taking off:

but both players are strong and there can be no denying the entertainment value here!

Hope you're all well and we'll see you soon. Chris (and Gawain)

To get in touch with me, either leave a message for me on the Dragons Forum, or email me at Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com (for subscribers only!)