I like playing the accelerated dragon in a more positional manner with 7. Qa5 against the main line and actually also the gurgenidze system against the maroczy, but since there are such a lot of options I like to vary myself a bit. My main alternative is perhaps the more classical lines which I also like for black, the Qb6-d8 h5, Kh7, Qh8/f8 maneuver never seizes to amaze me. 

I like the Uogele variation since the beginning (of my practice) where at the time, the biggest challenge was 9.f3. I often search how to equalize against 9.0-0, the real today's challenge, and I think I almost found the equality with 9..a4 against Khalifman's idea, and it was not easy even with Fire1.31's help. The key was to find a position that is not a true transposition of 11.Nb5 while using the weakness of the 11.c4 move order. Now I am looking to get equality against 11.Nb5 and I have not found the path yet. Of course I have looked at 11..d5!? with interest and my result at the moment is: almost equal against 12.Bb6 Qd7 13.Nc7 but I could not find how to equalize against 13.Qe2! instead (it has been played only once according to chesslive, with a win for White (2400+). 12.f3!? is not bad at all, and after 12..d4 13.Nxd4 fxe4, equality is not that clear despite the 2 draws at master level (one of them is Khalifman himself as Black in 2009!). 

So at the moment, it seems that 11..d5 is a nice try in practice but still not equalizing. If someone can find something against 12.Bb6 Qd7 13.Qe2!, is comment is welcome! Still searching to equalize with the Uogele...

MNb wrote on 10/20/10 at 10:17:21:


Agreed, it is certainly not ideal for Black that his queen is on c7 in this structure, but it is not a disaster either. After all the queen goes to c7 in many other Sicilian lines.

Statistically Black has done OK after 9...Qc7: out of about 500 games in Megabase Black has scored 46%. The games in megabase also show hat some very strong players have been prepared to play the black side, at least from time to time.

Analytically the situation may be more worrying for Black, but at present I would be more concerned  about 10 Bg5 than 10 Be2.

bragesjo wrote on 10/20/10 at 08:18:28:


This is all true but I would add that in the Nb3 Qc7 lines White often ends up returning the tempo by moving the bishop from c4. Hence the line(s) where White tries to show that he does not need to retreat the bishop are critical.

Even in the Bb3 line the black queen can be a problem. On a5 it blocks the advance of the a-pawn as well as preventing ...Na5; hence the experiments by Stein and others to switch the queen to h5 in some lines.

I don't have much to contribute on 7...Qa5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nb3, but I concluded long ago that I would prefer to be White after either 9.Nb3 or 9.Bb3 (though I admit I haven't seen the Huerga Leache survey). I consider Black's most promising ways to play the 5.Nc3 Acc nowadays to be:

a) 7...0-0 8.Bb3 a5!? and after the oft-recommended 9.0-0 a4 10.Nxa4 Nxe4 11.Nb5, 11...d5! gives black dynamic play, apparently with equal chances. Accordingly some White players have switched back to 8...a5 9.f3 d5 10.Bxd5 in search of advantage.

b) 7...0-0 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Bd7, switching to a Yugoslav Dragon. Black will reach the Soltis, Topalov or main Kb1 lines, depending on both sides' choices. There is also 10.Qd2 Nxd4!? 11.Bxd4 b5 when compared to the Topalov variation White can still castle short, but Black isn't committed to ...Rc8.

One thing I've wondered is what happens in this move order if White tries to force a Soltis variation with 10.h4 (or 10.Qd2 Rc8 11.h4) - should Black just accept the transposition with 10...h5 etc. or are there viable alternatives? If there are, Black can get by with relatively little theory by relying on one of the ...Nxd4 lines against 10.Qd2.

9.h3 Bd7 10.0-0 instead is a position (often reached from the 6.Bc4 Dragon) that I'm prepared to play with both colors. But this can't possibly be worse for Black than the 7...Qa5 8.0-0 0-0 9.Bb3 main line, which he can still choose to transpose to. 

Whatever White tries after 7...0-0 8.Bb3 d6 Black has avoided a number of Dragon lines he may or may not find unpleasant: 9.0-0-0, the trendy 9.g4!?, the Classical Dragon, 6.g3. The big question is whether the price is right - allowing the Maroczy Bind.

TN wrote on 09/29/10 at 14:16:38:


What in your opinion should Black do against 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nb3?  De la Villa, as you may know, claims advantage for White here.  (You may also know that 9.Bb3 was treated and considered satisfactory for Black by Huerga Leache in NIC Yearbook 96, the most recent.)  Is it Ivanchuk's line, 9...Qc7 10.Bg5 a6 11.Be2 d6!?, that you favor, or something else?

Agreed - 13.cxd5 leads to a slightly better position for White. But isn't that good news for Black in a variation that was believed to be completely refuted for decades?

Instead of 11.-Qh4, Black also has 11.-Qe7. Here is a variation that was mentioned by MNb in another thread:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Ng4 8. Qxg4 Nxd4 9. Qd1 e5 10. Nb5 O-O 11. Qd2 Qe7 12. O-O-O Nxb5 13. cxb5 d5 14. exd5 Rd8 15. d6 Qe6 16. Kb1 Bf8 17. Bc5
17. Qc3 Rxd6 18. Bc4 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Qe7 also looks equal.
17... b6 18. Bb4 Bb7 19. f3 Bxd6
19... Rd7!?
20. Bxd6 Rd7 21. b3 Rad8 22. Bc4 Qf6 23. Qe3 Rxd6 24. Rxd6 Qxd6 25. Re1 e4 26. fxe4 Qxh2
26... Qe5! could be even better
27. e5 Qxg2 28. e6
So far Van Koningsveld - MNB, corr NBC 1995
Be4+! 29. Ka1 fxe6 30. Bxe6+ Kg7=

In his review on the Donaldson/Silman book http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_rb/rb_accelerated_drgns.html, Randy Bauer wrote:

Quote:


Which is the finesse by GM Serper that he speaks of?