Thanks Scholar.  By the way, Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon shows a recent game by Tiviakov that appears to iimprove on the Korneev-Tiviakov game mentioned in the thread you referenced.  But my question is can black still play 8...00 9.000 Bd7?

It's not that I don't believe in black's traditional ...d5 vs. 9.000. It's that I like playing 8.Qd2 00 9.000 Bd7 but am wondering if games like Psakhis-Williams, 03' and Sutovsky-Hodgson, 98', both won by white, have more or less refuted 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 00 9.000 Bd7 for black.  For example, 10.g4 Rc8 11.h4 Ne5 12.Be2.  Now

12...Qa5 13.Kb1! was reached in the game Sutovsky-Hodgson, and black seems to be without an adequate response, while if 

12...b5, does black really have compensation after the untried 13.Ncxb5?  That still leaves 

12...h5, but how good is that? 

Perhaps I'm answering my own question.  By playing devil's advocate, I'm hoping somebody comes to the rescue of 8...00 9.000 Bd7.  Maybe the title of this topic should have been "Is 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.000 00 refuted?"

Rooksway, Scratch the moves I noted above since you want to play ...Bd7 after ...0-0.  I thought you were talking about the 8...Bd7 lines which is what I was looking at yesterday and today.

In the various references I have (i.e. Rogozenko's CD), the 9...Bd7 line does not fare well...  Not very helpful, eh?

From what I have been reading, the 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 lines look unpleasant for black.  Martin suggests delaying castling via 8...Bd7 avoids these lines, but Rogozenko's CD and Golubev's article in Experts vs. the Sicilian suggest that black is even worse after 8...Bd7 than after 8...0-0 9.0-0-0.  Not very encouraging for a player like me just starting out with the dragon...

I guess I'll be learning a lot on the 9.0-0-0 line since that is what my weekly sparring partner plays...

Quote:


rooksway18 - 

I play 9...d5 against 9.O-O-O, so I can't help you with 9...Bd7.  I think black is ok with 9...d5, but there will probably be some screamers challenging me to prove it.

- Lost Highway

Quote:

Stop right there.  What are the first 7 moves?

- Lost Highway

Hi,
In the Yugoslav Dragon after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 00 9.000 Bd7 10.g4 Rc8 11.h4 Ne5 12.Kb1 b5 13.h5 Nf3 14.Nf3 Bg4 15.Bg2, are there any suggested improvements on Psakhis-S.Williams, 1-0, 03', for black after move 15?  I want to make ...Bd7 work against 9.000, and I'm wondering if I should use ...Qa5 instead of ...b5.  Still, against some move orders ...Qa5 has problems as well, according to current theory and my own experience.  I play both, but booked up dragoneers have been preparing for me when they are white.  Is delaying castling for black and flicking in ...h5 the only decent option left for fans of ...Bd7?