Chess Strategy

Mio’s Hidden Ideas by IM Miodrag Perunovic

Dragon variation was a real nightmare for e4 players some 15 years ago! Particularly when players like Kiril Georgiev, Boris Alterman, Chris Ward and Thomas Ernst introduced it to their repertoire. Even Kasparov used it in his match for the World Championship against Anand in a few deciding games with big success! Nowadays, GM’s like Sergey Tivjakov, Fedorov, Golubev and a few others play it with solid results, although none of the top 20 plays it anymore. This might be the reason for the “Dragoners” to feel a bit insecure, losing their confidence. If devoted Dragoners like Georgiev and Alterman don’t play it anymore - it is time to introduce new fresh ideas and bring the Dragon back to life!

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6
We will start with some of the rare sidelines. Future articles will go over moves like 6. Be2; 6. Bc4; 6.g3 What can be the motif of playing sidelines with White pieces in an early stage of the game? The answer is simple and logical - 1) White wants to surprise Black, one of the very common strategies nowadays; 2) White wants to avoid the complications in the main Dragon lines, and by playing these rare moves, he simply reduces time necessary for preparation. So, White has a few interesting possibilities here but none of them is dangerous for Black! Sidelines are: 6.Nd5?! - rare and not the best attempt to surprise an opponent; 6. h4!? - pretty savage move; 6. h3!? with the idea of playing g4!?; 6. Bg5!? Bg7 7. Bb5!? - just an awkward variation, possibly good as surprise, nothing special; 6. Bc4 - maybe the best attempt to take an advantage with White pieces in B70 ECO code; 6. Be2 - calm move, and without real danger for Black; 6. g3!? - many good GMs like fianchetto variations, we have covered one of the subvariations in our previous article.

6.h4!?
By playing this kind of move in the early stage of the game, White clearly announces that he is going for the kill. It could be a very interesting idea against calm and slow-paced players, but the point is: Who would play Dragon with black if he is calm player I think that first to try 6.h4 was Drasko Velimirovic in his game against Watson, but the outcome was depressing for him.

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Intro: I’m afraid the readership will have to bare with my obsession for pawn structures. I realised I had problem with my openings because I tend to mistreat and compromise pawn chains. Last couple of weeks, as time allows, I’m trying to examine them closer, the first result being series on hanging pawns. Nowadays I’m researching Accelerated Dragon. At the same time, my good friend IM Miodrag Perunovic sent me couple of articles on Sicilian Dragon sidelines and I decided to share some of them. First comes the Nde2 retreat in Fianchetto, please be aware the article is “cheering” for Black

Article by IM Miodrag Perunovic

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 Nc6 7.Nde2
This retreat is the most promising continuation after White enrolled with g3 against Dragon. White’s main idea is to play in the center with moves like Bg2, 0-0, Nd5 and Bg5; or Be3, Qd2 in some lines. Of course, White will remain flexible to switch between the setups depending on Black’s reaction. So, lets see…

7…Bg7
An early 7…Rb8!? might be possible, but there aren’t many games were it was actually played. The continuation enjoyed brief popularity when Veselin Topalov employed it some 5-6 years ago, but German Grandmaster Kristofer Lutz suggested correct setup where White gets slight positional advantage. 8.Bg2 b5 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Nd5 Nd7 11.c3 a5 12.Nd4! Nxd4 13.cxd4 When White has built a strong center… 13…e6 14.Nf4 b4 15.Be3 Ba6 16.Re1 0-0 17.Qd2 Nb6 18.b3 Lutz - Topalov 1994;

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