White can play Kb1 before h4 and reach a more favorable version of the Soltis

for 5-10 years ago 10 Bb3 was thought to be very good for black but in one of the latest New in Chess Yearbooks the showed significant white improvments and claim that Nxd4 + b5 system is good for white. But this year Tiviakov showed how black should play in a game agianst Stellwagen, but computer analysis indicates that white is slightly better but not much. The New in Chess Yearbook didnt mention a move the forces transpration to the Stellwagen-Tiviakov game.

White can also try to get a positional edge after Nxd4 b5 by playing a4 and castle short.

CapaTal wrote on 07/31/07 at 23:54:50:


I strongly agree with the previous posting. I have played the dragon off and on for forty years. I think that the Soltis is one of black's best lines and should be played. I have also played the 10.Bb3 Nxd4 line.
However the white players these days have not read Fischers book of games and tend not to make the mistake of 10. Bb3 (Yes I real that strongly about blacks chances especially as the line is not dealt with well in many books.

CapaTal, I've been analyzing your game using Chessmaster 9000, since I play the ...Qa5 lines as black. Tired of waiting for someone to post concrete that do include ...Qa5, so here's some analysis. It is difficult to trust the computer as a few more pieces get traded off from the position after white's 17th move as we get closer to an end-game. I don't trust the computer's evaluation in imbalanced end-games, so I'm left to do some of the work myself! Please feel free to rip it apart!

From the game, could one possibility be 17...a5 18.a4 (now black doesn't have to worry about Ba4, bothering a black rook landing on c6) 18...Rc8 19.Nf4 Rc3 20.Bf6 Bf6 21.Nd5 Rc6 22.f4 Bg4 23.Nf6+ ef 24.fe Bd1 25.Rd1 fe reaches an ending with black having 3 pawns for a piece? There are so many possibilities throughout this line. Perhaps now 26.Rd6 b6 27.Rb5 Rc3 28.Rb6 Rg3.

Maybe this shows black surviving.

If you want something original, you might investigate 10.h4 Ne5 11.Bb3 b5. Also 10...Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 has been played; iirc there has been a thread on this.

Blacks is struggeling in several lines in Qa5 Dragon. Search the forum for the specific threads.

Instead I recommend a repertoure based on Soltis (10 h4 h5 11 0-0-0 Rc8) Chinese (10 0-0-0 Rb8) and Nxd4 + b5 system
agianst 10 Bb3.

Hi everybody!  This is my first post here.  I have a passion for learning and analyzing both sides of the Yugoslav Attack, so I really like this place and I'm enjoying my opportunity to exchange ideas with other enthusiasts.

Okay, so in a tournament I've got Black against an FM and I'm only about 2000 strength so I knew this was going to be tough, but we got a Dragon and I sort of gambled on 10...Qa5 because he played the 10.h4 move order and I haven't properly learned the Soltis.  I was excited when he played h4-h5 instead of h4+g4 and unleashed Ward's prescribed early exchange sac (see the excellent WWTD 2).  However, my opponent plays this plan of Bg5, Ne2-f4, Bxf6, and Nd5 that I hadn't seen before and it appears extremely strong and after some computer-aided analysis is looks to me like Black's position isn't at all fun after 16.Bg5!.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6
6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. h4 Qa5 11. O-O-O Rfc8 12. Bb3
Ne5 13. h5 Rxc3!? {Designed to avoid Nxh5 Nd5, which is supposed to be unpleasant.} 14. Qxc3 Qxc3 15. bxc3 Nxh5 {Ward gives compensation for Black and practical results are good I think, but...} 16. Bg5! Nf6 17. Ne2! {A strong new move, I think.  Now what?} Rc8 18. Nf4 b5? {not best but it was difficult anyway} 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Nd5 Kg7 21. Nxf6 Kxf6 22. Rxh7 {and eventually 1-0}

Okay, so I know this isn't terribly critical to most as they regard h4+g4 to very strong for White anyway.  If you see Dearing's awesome book you might find an interesting way to try to revive h4+g4 for Black in practical play (...b4 instead of the usual ...Nc4), though, and I was willing to give it a shot, but I guess I might as well learn the Soltis or play ...Rc8 and ...Nc4 (I recall having some analysis that maybe Black's okay after the so-called Kb1 refutation, but I haven't tested it out yet and it's been long enough ago that I'd have to look at it again to make sense of it) if not even the usual exchange-down endgame with compensation is viable in 10...Qa5.