In the Dragon white usually castles Q-side with the result that often both sides attack the Kings on opposite wings using every available resource. This frequently results in some very sharp games.
The seldom used Chessbase program sitting on my laptop came to the rescue with an Opening Report. There are 10,734 Dragon games in the database and white won 41 percent whereas black only won 25 percent. The average rating of the players was around 2450. Apparently the Dragon is no longer to be dreaded.
Strong players who have played the Dragon in recent years include Miso Cebalo, Sergei Tiviakov, Christopher Ward, Natalija Pogonina, Kiril Georgiev, Sergey Kudrin and Gawain Jones.
The following game is a cruhing victory using the Dragon by one of its leading exponents. Sergey Kudrin was born in 1959 Novosibirsk, Siberia. He was awarded the Im title in 1980 and the GM title in 1984. After arriving in the U.S. in 1978, he was one of the country's leading and most active players.
Born in 1957, GM Nick de Firmian is a three-time U.S. Champion, winning in 1987 (with Joel Benjamin), 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff. He has represented the United States at several Interzonals and played on the United States Olympiad teams eight times.
Nicj de Firmian2475–Sergey Kudrin24800–1B78Gausdal Young MastersGausdal1982Stockfish 16
B78: Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 g6 6.e3 At one time 6.Bc4 was by far the most popular move, but
in the database white played it in 599 games with an average success rate of
56 percent. With the text his success rate in 7,292 games is 60 percent. g7 7.f3 c6 8.d2 0-0 9.c4 d7 10.h4 c8 11.b3 h5 12.0-0-0 e5 13.dg1 a5 14.g4 So far both players have been following the ton of opening theory
available, but the text move is, perhaps, a bit too risky. A safer move ould
have been 14.Kb1 hxg4 This is the correct reply. 14...xc3 This is
tempting, but it's just an OK move. After 15.bxc3 hxg4 16.h5 gxh5 17.h6 xh6 18.xh6 xc3 19.b1 xd4 Nlack is only slightly better. 15.h5
White has what appears to be the makings of a strong attack and so black must
be carefull. xh5 15...xc3 is still a possibility, but the complications
are dizzying. 16.bxc3 xf3 Better is 16...gxh5 17.xf3 xe4 17...gxf3 18.hxg6 White has a winning attack. 18.d3 a3+ 19.d1 19.b1 xc3+ 20.a1 d1+ mates in 2 19...xc3+ 20.e1 f5 21.d2 e4 22.h2 gxf3 23.hxg6 f2+ 24.xf2 c1+ 25.e2 d2+ 26.f3 xf2+ 27.xf2 xf2 28.gxf7+ xf7 29.xf2 e6 in this materially unbalanced position anything could happen! In
Shootouts 5 games were f\drawn. 16.h6 xc3 Equally good was 16...Bf6 16...f6 feels hotter. 17.b1 xc3 18.fxg4 xg4 19.xf8 xf8 20.xc3 xc3 21.bxc3 a6 k is only slightly better. 17.xg7 This is where white
loses the game. 17.bxc3 was forced. xh6 18.xh6 xc3 19.b1 xd4 20.fxg4 xg4 21.xg4 xg4 22.xg6+ g7 23.xh5 Black is two Ps up, but
white's well placed pieces keeps black's pieces at bay. In Shootouts white
scored +0 -1 =4 17...xc2+ An unexpected surprise for white! 18.xc2 18.xc2 xd2+ 19.xd2 xg7 20.fxg4 xg4 Black has more than
enough compensation for the exchange. 18.xc2 is much worse... xd2+ 19.xd2 xf3+ 20.e2 xg1+ 21.xg1 xg7 with a won position. 18...c8+ 19.d1 xd2+ Otherwise white had Qh6 20.xd2 And now Bxe5 would win. xg7 20...xg7 would allow white back in the game after 21.fxg4 xg4 22.c1 xc1 23.xc1 f6 24.e5 dxe5 25.f3 e4 26.g5 e6 27.c7 21.fxg4 21.c1 doesn't wotk now... xc1 22.xc1 gxf3 23.c7 f2 24.e2 24.c4 xc4+ 25.xc4 f1 24...d3 25.xd7 g3+ 26.xd3 f1+ and with careful play black
will win. 21...xg4 22.e3 f6 23.c1 c5 24.hg1 d7 25.f5+ f8 26.d4 26.xc5 isn't much better. dxc5 27.h6 g7 with a decisive advantage.
26...eg4+ 27.f3 e5+ 28.e3 eg4+ 29.f3 h5 30.c7 h3+ 31.g2 h2+ 32.g3 Overlooking a mate in two, but he was lost anyway. 32.f1 d2 33.f3 f2+ 34.e1 xf3 35.xd7 f4 36.xb7 a5 37.a7 xe4+ and black is
clearly better. 32...h5+ White resigned. A smartly played game by Kudrin. 0–1
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