I have  now played lots of  Correspodence Chess games the crititical lines in 9 0-0-0 and 9 Bc4 yugoslav systems proposed by Giris book. And my conclusion are that the Dragon is a long forced draw in both lines.

White might win some games in the 9 0-0-0 endgame in practical over the board games but objective the endgame is a easy draw,

This is realy fun all white repertour books, bases and videos goes for Bc4 while computer seems to prefere Be2 or Bd3 a clear indication that Morra is in big trouble.

I have not seen that post but he plays 1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Nxc3 Nc6 5 Nf3 e6 6 Bc4 Bb4 7 0-0 Nge7. Whites best is given as Nb5 when he returns he pawn with d5 and gets bishop pair advantage and white has no play. He also covers Qe2 etc. In general he avoids a6 and does not try to hold the pawn. Its low theory line.

Having analysed a bit now I start to think black position is holdable. I will try Giris lines over the board play and maybee even try it in Correspondence Chess in the future. Giris book has also very good lines vs anti sicilians as well particullary vs Morra Gambiit.

I had a brief look at Saric's chessable course "The Open Sicilian A Champion's Guide".
Here is his comment on a final position he recommends:
"Up to this moment, we were following the forcing line which is recommended by Giri in his Dragon course. White here has many ways to continue. Objectively, Black should draw this endgame, but the real question is how many players in the world can hold it."


While on the same position Giri's comment is
"And this position is of course a draw, although the computer rightly points out that Black still has to be precise. Some key lines:..."
The position:

On the other lines (12...BxBd4), Saric's says more or less the same: holdable but requires very precise play.

I'm not a dragon payer, just curious. I don't know if dragon players would agree, but my feeling so far is that creating winning chances in the yougoslav attack without Bc4 is not easy against a well prepared player (play seems more doubled edge and interesting against Bc4)and in any case it all comes down to a lot of work on some typical endings just to stay alive.

XChess1971 wrote on 07/04/21 at 17:42:14:


Knock knock!
Good evening everybody at least for the ones on EST time in the US.

I wanted to mention something I was suspecting. Recently a game between Stockfish 14 vs Lc0, TCEC Season 21 was uploaded to youtube. On the Variation 12.Kb1 Re8 white unleashed 13.h3 (a move that I already knew. The point is to hold back the h-pawn and be ready for a possible f4 as g4 is covered.) in that game black continued with 13...Qc7 and after 14.Bh6 Bh8 white played 15.h4 (as there is no longer 15...h5 to make it harder for white). After 15...Nc4 16.Qd3 Ne5 17.Qf1 Nc4 18.Bc1 Qc5 19.g4! white simply had a better game.

I myself had analyzed this position and concluded that maybe 13...Nc4 could be a better option. After 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Qd3 Rc8 16.g4 looks better. But 15...Qc8 16.g4 Rxc3 17.Qxc3 Qxc3 18.bxc3 Rc8 19.Nb3 where after 19...Bb5 (19...Rxc3 20.Rhe1 h5 21.Rd3 Rc8 22.Bd4 Bc6 23.e5 dxe5 24.Bxe5 white looks better) 20.Rhe1 Nd7 black has some chances defending it.
Other possible options are 13.a3, 13.Rhe1, 13.Rhg1 and 13.g4

Below the PGN. Food for thought!!!


[Event "TCEC Season 21 - Viewer Submitted Openings Bonus 21"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/cWlvSxBJ"]
[Date "2021.08.31"]
[Round "3.10"]
[White "Stockfish 14_202108220915"]
[Black "LCZero 0.28_69722-vf20"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "3644"]
[BlackElo "3620"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "2700+5"]
[ECO "B78"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Old Line"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 { B78 Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Old Line } 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. Kb1 Re8 13. h3 Qc7 14. Bh6 Bh8 15. h4 Nc4 16. Qd3 Ne5 17. Qf1 Nc4 18. Bc1 Qc5 19. g4 Nxg4 20. h5 Bxd4 21. hxg6 Nf6 22. Ne2 Be3 23. gxh7+ Kh8 24. Bxc4 Bxc1 25. Rxc1 Qxc4 26. Qg2 Rc5? { (0.76 → 2.12) Mistake. Bg4 was best. } (26... Bg4 27. Rhg1) 27. b3 Qb5 28. Rhg1 Bg4 29. Nd4 Qb4 30. Rcd1 Rg5 31. fxg4 Qc3 32. Nf5 Nd7?! { (2.18 → 2.91) Inaccuracy. a5 was best. } (32... a5 33. a4) 33. Qf2 f6 34. e5 Nxe5 35. Nxe7 Nxg4 36. Rxg4 Rxg4 37. Qf5 Rxe7 38. Qxg4 Rg7 39. Qf4 Qe5 40. Qf2 Kxh7 41. Qxa7 f5 42. Qb8 Qe7 43. a4 Rg6 44. Qc8 Qf7 45. Qd8 Rf6 46. Rh1+ Rh6 47. Re1 Re6 48. Qh4+ Rh6 49. Qg5 Rg6 50. Rh1+ Kg7 51. Qh4 Qe8 52. Qh7+ Kf6 53. Qxb7 Qe4 54. Qh7 f4 55. Qh8+ Kf5 56. Qh3+ Kf6 57. a5 Rg3 58. Qh8+ Kf7 59. Rh7+ Ke6 60. Qc8+ Kd5 61. Qb7+ Kd4 62. Qa7+ Kd5 63. Qa8+ Kd4 64. Qa7+ Kd5 65. Qb7+ Kd4 66. Qb6+ Kd5 67. Qb5+ Kd4 68. Qb6+ Kd5 69. Rh5+ Ke6 70. Rh6+ Rg6 71. Rxg6+ Qxg6 72. a6 Qe4 73. a7 f3 74. Qd8 f2 75. Qe8+ Kf6 76. Qxe4 f1=Q+ 77. Kb2 Kf7?! { (73.24 → Mate in 7) Checkmate is now unavoidable. Qa6 was best. } (77... Qa6 78. a8=R Qxa8 79. Qxa8 Ke5 80. c4 Kf6 81. Qf8+ Ke6 82. Qe8+ Kf6 83. Qd7 Ke5 84. Qe7+) 78. Qh7+ Ke6 79. a8=Q Qf6+ 80. Ka2 Qh8 81. Qhe4+ Kd7 82. Qa7+ Kd8 83. Qea8# { White wins by checkmate. } 1-0

One last thing I wanted to mention is that you still need to study the Soltis after 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.0-0-0 Rc8 12.Bb3 Ne5 by transposition. And here 13.Kb1 Nc4 is the recommended move. But 13...Re8 would take you back to the 12.Kb1 line (9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1 Re8 13.h4 h5)

Happy 4 of July to all Americans!

XChess1971 wrote on 07/04/21 at 12:45:30:


9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Re8 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.g4 is in the course. The text says 'Logical, stopping f5, but Black has a good version of things, as after 15... Be6 we have a theoretical position without the inclusion of h4 and h6. White will need to go h4 anyway, but we will no longer have to lose time on h6.' With some lines.