To gewgaw, 3..cxd4 is not forced, but after 3..Bg7 there is 4.dxc5, 4.d5, or even 4.c4 where I can't play my Gurgenidze...

Is 3.d4 cd4 forced? Why not 3. ...Bg7?

To Swiss Dragon:

I will have a look at 7..Nb6!? with your idea.

I never liked 7..Nc7.

My favourite move has always been 7..Nb4 and then:

8.Bb5! where Black has some choices:

- 8..Qa5 9.Nc3 d5 has been considered as refuted later since Silman's and Donaldson's Book.

-8..Bg7 without Qa5, which is too passive,

-8..a6 (it's the move I always had in mind in the case where someone plays this line against me) which is quite interesting but here too I don't see a "full" equalization, it's at least "+/=".

- and your line 8..Qa5 9.Nc3 Bg7 which I have analysed. There is many lines here where Black has a very dynamical play here but there is a line where White just sacrifice the exchange and Black have many problems. Here is the line:
8..Qa5 9.Nc3 Bg7 10.0-0 (10.a3 should transpose as well) 0-0 11.a3! d5 12.exd6 Bf5 13.axb4! Qxa1 14.Qh4 with a strong initiative/attack for White.

What do you think about that SwissDragon?

I love the accelerated dragon and the Gurgenidze and played it many time at 2000 to GM level with fair results, but I don't use the accelerated dragon move order because of the Rossolimo which I hate very much (mostly the quick Bxc6 against g6). So I have played it a lot with the hyper accelerated move order, and I have quite good results against 3.c3, 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 or other.

Swiss Dragon, despite that, I am always afraid that someone plays to me 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4! with good knowledge (which hasn't arised against me yet). I think this is the real test for Black. 4..Nf6 5.Qa4 Nc6 6.e5 (6.Nc3 is quite good too) Ne5 7.Qe4 and now do you really think Black can fully equalize? I think not.

That's great aggressive king play! Thanks for sharing.

I don't particularly care for 8.h3 for White, and might consider venturing something more like 8.Nfd2.



Altogether, though, against 2...g6, I might prefer a transposition to the Alapin with 3.c3, which I think is better for White against early fianchetto setups. But I just have Sveshnikov's work to go by for my conclusions there.

I can also add that black can also play Qa5 vs Bc4 that sets up a trap, white is forced to castle short or lose a pawn for no compensation.

However, blacks positon in not that easy, since white can play Nb3 and will reach a Be2 line a tempo up if black retreats to d8 with the queen. If black instead retreats to c7 (most common move in my experience) black can no longer sacrifce that exchange at c3 without first moving a queen so  black will still be a tempo down and whites gets a stronger attack than reguar Be2 line. However it is stilll not that clear whites extra tempo means an edge.

Concrete: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 and Black has avoided both 9.O-O-O and 9.g4 in the Dragon.

MartinC wrote on 12/16/13 at 09:36:35:


Good point. 

bragesjo wrote on 12/16/13 at 12:20:31:


I used to play 9.Bc4 in the Yugoslav, but have not formally looked through its theory in many years (after some frustration with the Najdorf, I began playing 4.Qxd4, until eventually switching to a non-1.e4 repertoire). Until I get a chance to review the many significant theoretical advances I'm sure to have missed, I was intending to play 9.g4. Looking through some threads here, 9.0-0-0 has also looked interesting.

Can I ask to what transpositional trick you are referring? The only try I am familiar with is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6, intending ...d7-d6 and entering the dragon having ruled out the Maroczy. However, my understanding is that 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.e5 is good for White.