Download PGN of March '09 Dragon Sicilian games

To start with then we have:

McDonald - Ward which features some complex variations and some of my views on favourable transpositions to the standard Dragadorf. Frankly I don't know what all the fuss is about!

On to the normal Dragon and the Yugoslav Attack, and reflecting its apparent recent increase in popularity I start with a 9 g4 encounter:

Well, actually Pogonina - Dzagnidze was strictly speaking 8 g4, and that only seemed to cloud the issue as it didn't really transpose to a normal line at all.

In contrast Olafson - Perunavic was a 9 0-0-0 Bd7 10 g4 system which continues to make regular appearances and yet apparently many a White player over-estimates the concept of 13 Nd5:

This game should serve as a lesson.

My thanks go to forum contributor 'chessmoby' for posting a very entertaining game between two computer engines. Unsurprisingly no real blunders were made in this game, and as it was in one of the main lines of the Soltis variation I couldn't resist annotating Fritz 6-Shredder

Regular subscribers will know that for a while the 9 Bc4 with ...Qc7 line was rather popular, with no real refutation forthcoming:

In Chirila - Jianu the critical line is finally tackled, with one of the leading exponents demonstrating the resources available to the second player.

Finally away from the Yugoslav Attack Sikula - Polzin is an old style Classical variation. White gets to park a knight on d5, set up a bind and work with a space advantage, but this game and associated notes show that Black has plenty of opportunities to try and mix things up.

Hope you are all well.

Best wishes, Chris

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!)