I have not read the blog yet. The line you mentioned is the same line that made me stop playing g3 vs accelerated. When the book arrives it will be interesting to see if there are some suggested improvement for white.

I  became curios about the new Chamelon book. It appears to enter Dragon, Najdorf and Classical by transposition.  From what I could read from the sample file it goes for g3 vs Dragon and accelerated Dragon but Najdorf and Classical it does not say.

Having played g3 vs both Dragon and Najdorf in the past I became curios especially vs accelerated Dragon since black gets some extra options like a quick b5 in that move order.

I ordered the book today.

@MNb - No strawman, that comment was not addressed to you.

@bragesjo - The Accelerated Dragon without Maroczy Bind is fine for black. I have played it myself (as well as regular Dragon). In fact that's why I want to play against it as white. I know the lines and understand the positions, not even necessarily better than black knows them, but better than I know the white side of other variations. If the Accelerated Dragon is acceptable to black, then the Chameleon presents no move order problems. But it still offers white some say in which open variation appears on the board. Your summary of what white gives up is accurate.

an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 10/06/17 at 18:53:02:


If we skip the sarcasm,in accelerated Dragon black can play d7-d5 in one move thus ruling out many white setups that works in regular Dragon. So black does not need to fear yugusoslav 9 0-0-0 in Dragon or Marocy in accelerated Dragon, thus the 2 most criticlal lines are ruled out.  You should be fine to play it however, but you need to find a line that works vs both , like Be2 Bg5 system or you are forced to  Bc4 or 9 Bc4 yugoslav. There is nothing wrong with it but I thought the idea by the move order was the reduce theory.

MNb wrote on 10/06/17 at 10:04:55:


I say it depends. I think that Be2 is interesting, it leads however to an equal position.
One possible drawback are that after g6 white is commited to a Be2 setup vs Dragon.
However that is not a problem in my case since I sometimes play Be2 Be3 Qd2 0-0-0 system.
Also about Dragon, if it was not becouse of  Maroczy many more players would consider to play Accelerated Dragon, not only Dragon proper players.

I can also add that the book "Modernized Open Sicilian" went for g3 vs both Taimanov and Kan, including allowing Bb4.
Maybee black can equalize vs both but I prefere white in both positions.

Some systems (Kalashnikov and to some extent Sveshnikov) are avoided by the Chameleon move order. Other systems (Taimanov and Kan) the move order has pluses and minuses. Still other systems (Classical and Dragon) it has little to no effect. Note that Soltis was (and maybe still is) an expert on the Velimirovic Sozin and the Yugoslav Dragon, which might have made black players a little reluctant to go there.

My feeling is that the Chameleon move order is quite useful if white really knows the Open Sicilian well and just has preferences for one line versus another. As a "trick" though, it gives black nothing to worry about.

Let me give an example. Against the Taimanov I like to play with g2-g3. Yes, I know it is nothing for white if black plays a quick ...d7-d6 and ...Bc8-d7, but I still like it. However if black plays a Kan move order it is less than nothing. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.g3 Bb4! which I have also played with black. Using the Chameleon white can avoid this. 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 a6 4.g3 Qc7?! 5.Bg2 Nf6 6.O-O when (a) black is not able to play ...Bf8-b4 against the open, and (b) the closed d2-d3 is also fine for white. None of this is "tricky" in any way. In fact white bypasses the best anti-Kan line, 5.Bd3, but also bypasses the best response to 5.Nc3. As I said, pluses and minuses.

For me, the Dragon and/or Accelerated Dragon is the variation I would most like to face, so the Chameleon has some point. But the Classical is the variation I would least like to face (unless my opponent is a Najdorf player), so the Chameleon is not the perfect weapon.