Ebook Description Gambit Chess: books for chess enthusiasts The most uncompromising Sicilian system A perennial favourite of aggressive players The Dragon variation of the Sicilian is one of the key battlegrounds of modern chess, and a perennial favourite of ambitious chess-players of all standards. In the Dragon, many Sicilian themes are seen in their clearest form, with the.Rxc3 exchange sacrifice particularly important. Even Dragon endgames tend to be very sharp, with Black often possessing a swathe of mobile pawns in return for an exchange, a piece, or even a whole rook. Edward Dearing explains at length the all-important general themes, and advises on how to choose plans and methods. Included are many new ideas and suggestions to help the reader tailor his Dragon repertoire to suit his own preferences.
Moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 B70–B79 Origin (c. 1880) Named after Constellation Parent In, the Dragon Variation is one of the main lines of the and begins with the moves: 1. In the Dragon, Black their bishop on g7, on the king's side while aiming the bishop at the center and. In one of the most popular and theoretically important lines, the Yugoslav Variation, White meets Black's setup with Be3, Qd2 and Bh6, exchanging off the Dragon bishop, followed by launching a with h4–h5 and g4.
To involve the a1-rook in the attack, White usually castles queenside, placing the white king on the c-file. The result is often both sides attacking the other's king with all available resources. The line is one of the and most aggressive variations of the Sicilian Defence, making it one of the sharpest of all. The modern form of the Dragon was originated by German around 1880. It was played frequently by that decade, then received general acceptance around 1900 when played by and other masters. In his 1953 autobiography, the Russian chess and amateur astronomer claimed that he coined the name 'Dragon Variation' in 1901 after the constellation, which he said resembled Black's kingside. The earliest known printed reference, found by chess historian, is in the Jan-Feb 1914 issue of.
Yugoslav Attack: 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 The Yugoslav Attack is considered to be the main line that gives maximum chances for both sides. It continues: 6. F3 The point of White's last move is to safeguard e4 and to stop Black from playing.Ng4 harassing White's dark-squared bishop. Black cannot play 6.Be3 Ng4?? Immediately because of 7.Bb5+ either winning a piece after 7.Bd7 as white can play Qxg4 due to the pin on the d7 bishop, or winning an exchange and pawn after 7. Bxc6+ forking king and rook.
Qd2 Nc6 and now there are fundamentally two distinct branches with 9. 0-0-0 leading to more positional play while 9. Bc4 leads to highly tactical double-edged positions. The Yugoslav Attack exemplifies the spirit of the Dragon with race-to-mate on opposite sides of the board.
White tries to break open the Black kingside and deliver mate down the h-file, while Black seeks counterplay on the queenside with sacrificial attacks. Typical White strategies are exchanging dark-squared bishops by Be3–h6, sacrificing material to open the h-file, and exploiting pressure on the a2–g8 diagonal and the weakness of the d5 square. Black will typically counterattack on the queenside, using the queenside pawns, rooks, and dark squared bishop. Black sometimes plays.h5 (the Soltis Variation) to defend against White's kingside attack. Other typical themes for Black are White's light-square bishop by.Nc6–e5–c4, pressure on the c-file, sacrificing the exchange on c3, advancing the b-pawn and pressure on the long diagonal.
Black will generally omit.a6 because White will generally win in a straight pawn attack since Black has given White a hook on g6 to attack. In general, White will avoid moving the pawns on a2/b2/c2, and so Black's pawn storm will nearly always be slower than White's on the kingside.
Black can frequently obtain an acceptable endgame even after sacrificing the exchange because of White's h-pawn sacrifice and doubled pawns. Yugoslav Attack with 9.0-0-0. Position after 16.Be6! After years of believing White's best play and chance for advantage lay in the main line with 9. Bc4, this older main line made a major comeback. White omits Bc4 in order to speed up the attack.
It used to be thought that allowing 9.d5 here allows Black to equalize easily but further analysis and play have proven that things are not so clear cut. In fact, recently Black experienced a time of difficulty in the 9.d5 line facing a brilliant idea by which seemed to give White the advantage. Some Black players began experimenting with 9.Bd7 and 9.Nxd4. Fortunately for Black, the 9.d5 line has been doing better in practice. A brilliancy found for White one day is soon enough overturned by some new resource for Black. A case in point is the following line where the evaluation of a major line was turned upside down overnight because of a queen sacrifice - Golubev credits 'J.
Diaz' and himself with discovering it independently in 1996: 9. Exf6 Bxf6 13. Qxd5 Nxe3 15. Qxd1 Be6!, where Black has almost sufficient compensation for the queen. Yugoslav Attack with 9.Bc4. Main article: The purpose of 9.Bc4 is to prevent Black from playing the freeing move.d6–d5.
How To Play The Sicilian Dragon
The variations resulting from this move are notorious for having been heavily analysed. In addition to covering d5, White's light-squared bishop helps cover White's queenside and controls the a2–g8 diagonal leading to Black's king. However, the bishop is exposed on c4 to an attack by a rook on c8, and usually has to retreat to b3, giving Black more time to organize his attack.
Common in this line is an exchange sacrifice on c3 by Black to break up White's queenside pawns, and sacrifices to open up the long diagonal for Black's bishop on g7 are also common. An example of both ideas is the line 9. 0-0-0 Rc8 11.
Bxc4 Rxc4 14. The Soltis Variation of the 9.Bc4 Yugoslav Attack The Variation was the main line of the Dragon up until the late 1990s. Garry Kasparov played the move three times in the against Viswanathan Anand, scoring two wins and a draw. The line goes 9.
0-0-0 Rc8 11. H4 h5 (the key move, holding up White's kingside pawn advance). Other important deviations for Black are 12.
More recently, White players have often avoided the Soltis by playing 12. Kb1, which has proven so effective that Black players have in turn tried to dodge this with 10. Rb8, known as the Chinese Dragon.
Classical Variation: 6.Be2 The Classical Variation, 6. Be2, is the oldest White response to the Dragon. It is the second most common White response behind the Yugoslav Attack. Bg7, White has two main continuations:. After 7. 0-0 0-0, White's two main responses are 9. The knight move is a very common one in the Classical Variation and Qd2 is well met with 9.
0-0 White has a choice of e3 and g5 for their bishop. If it is placed on e3, the game will usually transpose into the lines above. In his book Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon, Andrew Martin calls Be3 'the traditional way of handling the variation', and describes Bg5 as being 'much more dangerous' and 'White's best chance to play for a win in the Classical Dragon.' As with Be3, after Bg5, White will normally place their knight on b3, avoiding an exchange on d4. Levenfish Attack: 6.f4 The Levenfish Attack, 6. F4, is named after Russian GM who recommended it in the 1937 Russian Chess Yearbook.
It is not currently very common in the highest levels in chess. White prepares 7.e5 attacking Black's f6-knight therefore in the pre-computer era 6. Nbd7 were considered mandatory to meet the Levenfish Attack; however, it has transpired that after 6. Nxe6 Bxc3+ 11.
Bxc3 Qc8 Black might actually be better. Harrington–Glek Variation: 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 0-0 8.Qd2 The Harrington–Glek Variation is another option for White. Named after Grandmaster who has devoted considerable effort evaluating the resulting positions for White. GM John Emms wrote, 'Although it's difficult to beat the Yugoslav in terms of sharp, aggressive play, 7.Be2 0-0 8.Qd2!? Also contains a fair amount of venom. White's plans include queenside castling and a kingside attack. And there's a major plus point in that it's much, much less theoretical!'
After the main moves 8. 0-0-0 we reach a tabiya for the position. Position after 9.0-0-0 Here Black has tested several options and here they are listed in order of popularity:. 9.
Nxd4 This move can lead to both positional and attacking chances for both sides. White must keep aware that Black may have opportunities to offer an exchange sacrifice on c3 in order to exploit the unprotected e4 pawn. 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Kb1! A good preparatory move in many lines of the Sicilian Dragon. White wants to be able to play Nd5 if the situation becomes conducive.
Sicilian Dragon Yugoslav Attack
White's king is also getting away from the open c-file which is where much of Black's counterplay can develop. 11.Qa5 With this move we reach a position where chances are roughly balanced and play can take on a life of its own. Bd7 This move allows Black to keep all his pieces on the board to mount an attack.
Black needs to keep White's pawns from making a breaking capture. 11.f3 Rc8 12.Kb1 Ne5 13.Bg5! Black can now go for broke with 13.b5!? With an interesting position to contest with over the board. Ng4 This move is played to pick up the bishop pair by exploiting the absence of f3 in White's opening. White is usually fine with allowing the trade of bishop for knight considering that his light-square bishop does little in this line in comparison with the f6-knight's defensive abilities and White also will gain the use of f2–f3 to drive Black back after he recaptures with his bishop. 10.Bxg4 Bxg4 11.f3 Bd7 12.Kb1 Ne5 13.b3!
Rc8 14.h4 Re8! Again, both sides have good chances. A pawn sacrifice similar to lines in the more common Yugoslav mainlines. 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Nxd5 cxd5 13.Qxd5 Qc7! Giving up two rooks for the queen but keeping attacking chances.
Bf5 15.Qxf8+ Kxf8 16.Bd3! Be6 17.Kb1. 9. A6 10.Kb1 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.h4! H5 13.f3 Be6 14.g4!
J.Van der Wiel vs. Eidam, Gran Canaria 1996. Other options Other options on White's sixth move include 6. When Black adopts the Dragon formation without 2.d6, White must watch out for.d5 which often immediately equalises. Lines where Black does this include the (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6) and (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6).
Another option for Black is to play what has been called the 'Dragodorf', which combines ideas from the Dragon with those of the. While this line may be played via the Dragon move order (see the Yugoslav Attack with 9.Bc4). Black can arrive at it with a Najdorf move order: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 g6 (or 5.g6 6.Be3 a6), with the idea of Bg7 and Nbd7. Such a move order would be used to try to avoid a Yugoslav type attack; for instance, after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6, White could play 6.Be2 or 6.f4. In both cases, especially the latter, a Yugoslav-style attack loses some momentum. Usually the bishop is more ideally placed on c4, where it can pressure f7 and help defend the white king (though the 9.0-0-0 variation of the Dragon shows that this is not completely necessary), and if White plays f4 and then castles queenside, they must always be on guard for Ng4 ideas, something which the move f3 in traditional Dragon positions usually discourages.
Nonetheless, a Yugoslav-style attack is still playable after both 6.Be2 g6 or 6.f4 g6. Some famous exponents of the Dragon are, the late and. Used the Dragon with success as a surprise weapon against world title challenger in 1995 but did not use it subsequently. The Dragon saw its popularity declining in the late 1990s as a result of White resuscitating the old line with 9.0-0-0, however recently there has been a resurgence after a number of new ideas in the 9.0-0-0 line were formulated by Dragon devotees. ECO codes The ( ECO) has ten codes for the Dragon Variation, B70 through B79.
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6, there is:. B70 5.Nc3 g6. B71 5.Nc3 g6 6.f4 ( Variation). B72 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3. B73 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 (Classical Variation). B74 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Nb3.
B75 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 (Yugoslav Attack). B76 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0. B77 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4. B78 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0.
B79 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Qa5 11.Bb3 Rfc8 12.h4 See also. References. Chess openings. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
Wolff, Patrick (1997). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess. Patrick Wolff. The Oxford Companion to Chess., Chessbase.com, 18 June 2007. Martin, Andrew (2005).
Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon. Everyman Chess., chesshistory.com, 27 October 2012. Golubev, p 132-133. Gemvision matrix free rapidshare premium. Dangerous Weapons:The Sicilian Further reading.; Moskow, Eric (1979). Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack.
CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list.; (2006). Dangerous Weapons:The Sicilian.
The Sicilian Dragon. Winning With the Dragon. Secrets of the Sicilian Dragon. Golubev, Mikhail (1999). Easy Guide to the Dragon. Winning With the Sicilian Dragon 2.
Dearing, Edward (2005). Play The Sicilian Dragon. Martin, Andrew (2005).
Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon. The New Sicilian Dragon. Everyman Chess. External links The Wikibook has a page on the topic of:. Pablo Arguelles. Chess Series. Google Video.
Retrieved 2007-04-25.
Play the Sicilian Dragon Publisher: Gambit Publications ISBN: edition 2004 PDF 258 pages 21,1 mb The Dragon variation is one of the key battlegrounds of modern chess, and a perennial favourite of ambitious chess-players of all standards. Black develops his pieces so as to maximize the strategic pluses granted him in the Open Sicilian. If White is to expose a defect in the Dragon, it must be by a direct attack, and this leads to ferocious battles, with White trying to checkmate the black king via the h-file, while Black seeks to gain counterplay down the c-file and on the long diagonal. In the Dragon, many Sicilian themes are seen in their clearest form, with the.Rxc3 exchange sacrifice particularly important. Even Dragon endgames tend to be very sharp, with Black often possessing a swathe of mobile pawns in return for an exchange, a piece, or even a whole rook.
Greetings chess friends! Once again in this new post a yet another instructive sampler game on my new pet opening the Hyper Accelerated Dragon.
Why play the Hyper Accelerated Dragon? I personally like it because it is a low maintenance opening, unlike the Classical Dragon which demands a lot of theoretical study and updating.
The Hyper Accelerated Dragon has quite a crafty move-order that often bust e4 players who wrongly treat it as a regular Classical Dragon. The Yugoslav Attack doesn't really work against the Hyper Accelerated Dragon. Having the Classical Dragon in my repertoire for years I was able to appreciate the potential of the Hyper Accelerated Dragon. I was able to compare black's king safety on both openings and personally concluded that the black king in the Hyper Accelerated Dragon is very much safer because it is not as exposed to immediate attacks early in the opening, especially in the Yugoslav Attack. I also noticed that the play is not so razor sharp which makes the game more on the positional side. This is really good according to many GM's who believes that strategical play is better than route memorization to a learning chess player like myself. So is the Hyper Accelerated Dragon an ultimate defense to 1.e4?
After only having played it a few times I have to admit that I am slightly annoyed to reach the Maroczy Bind position (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4). I sense that in the Maroczy Bind black's chances to play for a win diminishes quite substantially as compared to the Classical Dragon. But this does not mean the chances to equalise has become futile. Theoretically, black in the Maroczy Bind has already a draw at hand but he must be willing to sit down toiling from a disadvantaged or comparatively difficult position.
Black actually has very good chances to win if white over extends himself. The Maroczy Bind positions are very positional and quite dull that most 1.e4 players dont find it attractive to play anyway.
And I have to say, since playing the Hyper Accelerated Dragon, it's still a very rare occasion for me to face the Maroczy Bind. In fact, the following game of mine against a 2000+ rated player saw declining the chance to go for a Maroczy Bind. In our previous game he opted for the early 4.Qxd4 and lost (see previous blog post for details). This time he went for the Bc4-Bb3 idea instead and found out that black is still winning. Let's have a look and find out what happened (note sub analysis on the movelist pane for better understanding of the position). I like this game, especially the way you turn the middlegame to a favorable ending.
I play this line too, and I think a4 can be classified as a minor mistake. By the the way the Hyper Accelerated-term is not correct. The Accelerated Dragon is 1.e4,c5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.d4, cxd4 4.Nxd4, g6. What you call Hyper Accelerated, its the Hungarian variation, which has a completely different theory, worked out by a Hungarian master named Elek Bakonyi. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.e5 Nc6 6.Qa4 is its main line.
In your game its just a move order changing. In fact, the Hyper Accelerated line is just a move order changing. Thank you for the input, sawin. Really appreciate sharing your thoughts about terminology/name of variation.
I hope to clarify the matter below. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 - is termed the ' Accelerated Dragon'. Coined 'accelerated' because the pawn move to d6 was ommited from the 2nd move and replaced it with 2.Nc6 accelerating piece development. The pawn move 2.d6 is the normal Sicilian Dragon. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 - is termed the 'hyper version of the accelerated dragon' or simply put ' Hyper Accelerated Dragon'. Coined 'hyper' to indicate that the pawn move to g6 is earlier than the Accelerated Dragon; the pawn move to g6 came earlier at 2nd move instead on the 4th move. So what differences do they make?
The move order difference, as we know, results to different opening variations that make up different opening theories. That's why in the Hyper Accelerated Dragon you have 4.Qxd4 as a possibility while in the Accelerated Dragon move order you have the possibilty of 3.Bb5 Rossolimo Variation. To read more about it, look up these following books:. Cheers!
Thanks wonderful people. I apologize for not writing follow-up articles lately. Got retrenched from work because of the Global Crisis last year.
Since then have been busy finding work and studying business courses. Must admit that am having some financial difficulties at the moment because of a negative cash flow. I really enjoy writing and sharing chess knowledge but as you know priority is to provide my family proper food on the table. If only there is enough income in writing here then I can give it more time than other ways of making a living.
I know some of you can relate to my situation and understand that every kind deed of support, no matter how big or small, can really make a better change to lives of struggling people. On that note I drink a coffee to you, if you can afford to buy me one. This line is indeed annoying for Black. My Indonesian bestfriend has played this numerous times against me in blitz games.
One of the ideas for White is to play Qb3 putting more pressure on a2-g8 diagonal. It's not easy for black to attend to the pressure without creating a weakness on the d-file, especially on the d6 square and also on the d5 square. The.d5 pawn break is really impossible at times.
I wish I could talk write more about this on this reply but had to do some work. I would like to get back on this as soon as I get the chance.
Interesting topic this is. Great annotations and a well-executed game plan, chessmagic5. In response to 1. D4 cxd4 5.Bc4, how about 5.
Nf6, attacking the e4 pawn? H3 begs the knight to take e5. Cxd4 is met by 7. Brings out the black queen to d6, which looks like a strong position at this point.) 8.
Hxg4, and black should either shore up the queenside with 9. B5 or get the king to safety 9.
Before grabbing the loose pawn on g4.
Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. I imagine there will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more.' - FM Carsten Hansen (2002) In 2014, Pete Tamburro wrote, '. You will see in Openings for Amateurs the reply to 1.e4 to be the great reply of the open games with 1.e5. The Sicilian Dragon is presented as an alternative.
I have found that scholastic players take to the Sicilian Dragon very quickly. A cautionary note: the Dragon is good at club level, but as you start facing better players you're going to find yourself memorizing tons of lines and the latest analysis. From my experience with coaching players below 1800, you won't need to do that too much.' 'As a professional player, I participate in many opens. I need at least 7.5/9 for the first place so I have little margin for mistakes. It suffices to mention the 6.Bg5-attack with forced variations all the way up to move thirty or more, to understand my reluctance to use the Najdorf. The Dragon is even more unfit for a main repertoire.
The same long narrow forced variations, many dead drawn endgames in some lines without h4, and on top of all - the unbearable sight of the d5-square, where one White piece replaces another.' - GM Alexander Delchev (2006). It all depends on what you want out of your Sicilian game, but perhaps two of the best options to get playable positions without having to memorize reams and reams of theory (well, everything is relative, even in the Sicilian.), I'd advise you to adopt either the Kan variation, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6, or the Taimanov variation, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7.
GM Johan Hellsten (a highly regarded coach/trainer) has written a well-reviewed book on this, 'Play the Sicilian Kan'. John Emms has written one called 'Sicilian Kan' (but it's quite a few years older than Hellsten's). On the Taimanov, there's 'The Safest Sicilian' by Delchev & Semkov. Both the Taimanov and the Kan often sees 5.
Qc7, and the main difference between the two is whether to play an early Nc6 (as you do in the Taimanov) or not (as is the case in the Kan). You could try the Hyper Accelerated Dragon. There is an interesting book in Chessable.com. The advantage from the books there is that will learn using spaced repetition. I am learning this defence myself and it seems quite solid to me, although I learned only 44 from 309 variations. The book is written by IM Raja Panjwani, who used a lot of own games in this book.
A good thing about the HADragon is that you are not in the danger of get mated in the first 20 moves, what you cannot say about a lot of other Sicilian lines. 'Anyway, I do have all (Hyper)Accelerated Dragon books printed up to date (starting with David Levy's back in the late seventies) and if I had to pick one, it would be Starting Out The Accelerated Dragon by IM Andrew Greet. It's not perfect, but fairly thorough and very well laid-out.' - IM Pfren (March 30, 2017) '. I recently got The Hyper Accelerated Dragon by Raja Panjwani.
I think it's not a good book for class players (unlike Greet's). Good & thorough analysis, but the lines picked are not the easiest, and there are no simple verbal explanations.' - IM Pfren (December 31, 2017). Well, I think the lines are well explained, and for the moves which are not clear you can ask the author or other IMs in Chessable.
The author have some interesting, own ideas in several lines, and he has a lot of experience in this defence. I can imagine that there are other, perhaps better books on this defence, but which one can you learn using spaced repetition? Spaced repetition males the training highly efficient, so you can go for a tournament with the opening knowledge of an IM. You still have to know what to do with all suboptimal lines not considered in the book, but for most reasonable moves played by white you will know what to do. The only other tool using spaced repetition is Chess Position Trainer, but there you have to make your own repertoire, in Chessable you can purchase one, saving hours of work.
Sicilian Dragon Chess
The main difference is that in the Accelerated Dragon Black chooses to fianchetto earlier and leaves his d7-pawn at home. In some variations this can prove to be advantageous to Black. We saw in the Dragon that Black often tried to engineer a.d6-d5 break. In the Accelerated Dragon, Black can aim for an immediate.d7-d5, thus effectively gaining an extra tempo.' - GM John Emms (2009) '. The main consideration for Black between choosing the 'normal' Dragon and the Accelerated Dragon is that White can employ the so-called Maroczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon. This restraining setup.
Ensures White a solid space advantage, but Black has a number of ways to deal with it.' - FM Carsten Hansen (2010) '1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 is an alternative route to the Accelerated Dragon.
Black steers clear of the Rossolimo Variation (2.Nc6 3 Bb5), but he has to be prepared for some other lines, most notably 3 d4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 and 3 c3.' - GM Paul van der Sterren (2009) 'The Hyper Accelerated Dragon is not much better, or worse than the regular Accelerated Dragon. The c3 systems after 2.g6 is nothing to worry about, and the same goes for the 4.Qxd4 line. You do avoid Yugoslav attack mainlines with both systems (and there are several good ways to do that), but the major headache is (of course) the Maroczy.' - IM pfren (16 days ago) 'Active plans against the Maroczy are quite risky, positonally- so Black has to meet white's clear space advantage with a lot of patience, and proper handling of the so-called 'dark squared strategy'. Most class players are not very good handling either of these requirements.'
- IM pfren (March 24, 2017) '. The Maroczy Bind. Requires quite sophisticated positional understanding to play well. What I've noticed is that even if club players are aware of this line they tend to play it badly for White.' - GM Nigel Davies (2010).