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What's wrong if white move to Castle long(0-0-0) in Accelerated dragon?

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  • Nothing, The upvoted comments here are highly misleading in that regard (see my comments below)
    – ToddM
    Feb 26, 2017 at 16:32

4 Answers 4

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In the normal Dragon, the most dangerous system is the Yugoslav attack. Current theory shows that Black can resist the attack with a pawn sacrifice and maintain the balance. In the Accelerated Dragon, Black saves a move by moving the d pawn to d5 in one move. This allows Black to gain a dangerous initiative. With a Rook on the c file and the Bishops on g7 and f5, White must defend carefully.

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    Current theory does not state that at all. After [Event "Ch Serbia"] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 and Black's best move is d6. Not d5. In addition, current theory in the Yugoslav gives White a small advantage. You should be more specific about what pawn sac your talking about. There are many in the Dragon.
    – ToddM
    Feb 21, 2017 at 7:25
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    Plus, the thematic sacrifice Rxc3 is common is almost all lines of Sicilian defence: one other example would be the English attack against the Najdorf, where Black takes in c3 to avoid White occupying the d5 square massively (and to get a pawn back too).
    – gented
    Feb 21, 2017 at 9:13
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After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6, castling long as quickly as possible doesn't work for white: 7.Qd2 0-0 8.0-0-0 Ng4! 9.Nxc6 bxc6 and black is clearly better.

Therefore, if white wants to castle longside, he should start with 7.f3. After 7....0-0, 8.Qd2 is again dubious: 8....d5! and black has an extra tempo with respect to the normal Dragon.

Instead, white can prevent ...d5 by 8.Bc4. After 8....d6 9.Qd2 white has transposed to one of the main lines of the normal Dragon. But black has a more powerful alternative: 8....Qb6! and after 9.Bb3 he has 2 options:


      [StartPly "12"]

      [FEN ""]
      1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.f3 (7.Qd2 O-O 8.O-O-O Ng4 9.Nxc6 bxc6) 7...O-O 8.Bc4 (8.Qd2 d5) 8...Qb6 (8...d6 9.Qd2) 9.Bb3 Nxe4 (9...Ng4 10.fxg4 Bxd4 11.Bxd4 Qxd4 12.Qxd4 Nxd4) 10.Nd5 Qa5+ 11.c3 Nc5 (11...Bxd4 12.Bxd4 Nc5) 12.Nxc6 dxc6 13.Nxe7+ Kh8 14.Nxc8 Raxc8

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  • White is simply playing tthe wrong move order here. The correct move order is. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3! d6 9.f3 Bd7 10.Qd2 avoiding the problem.
    – ToddM
    Feb 21, 2017 at 7:22
  • You have an interesting point, the line you give is indeed a good try for white to transpose to one of the main lines of the Dragon. However, black has multiple options to avoid this transposition and to stay in Accelerated Dragon territory, e.g. 8....a5, 8....Ng4 or 8....Qa5. In these lines, castling long side is often not an option for white.
    – Maxwell86
    Feb 21, 2017 at 18:29
  • 8. ... Ng4 & 8. ... a5 are considered inferior for Black. 8. ... Qa5 9.f3 d6 10.Qd2 and White will castle queenside.
    – ToddM
    Feb 22, 2017 at 0:06
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I don't play the Dragon, but it seems to me it is pretty good when you play the Accelerated form and push White into castling short. It offers White fewer offensive choices.

So, trying to castle long would still be the right ideal. It is only in the details that we see the flaws. The early Be3, f3 weakens Nd4, Be3 and pawn b2. The early Qd2 may allow ...Ng4. Using Bf1-e2 to guard g4 may allow an advantageous ...d5. An early f2-f4, to meet ...d5 with e5, may also leave Be3, Nd4 and pawn b2 too weak. White has to be careful in the opening to maintain safe coordination. See the early games like Lasker-(somebody whose name escapes me just now), Alekhine-Botwinnik, or Fischer-Reschevsky for examples of how crazy it can get.

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Bd7 10.Qd2 and White will castle queenside (probably on the next move). Note my comment about the necessity of playing this move order.

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    This is no longer accelerated dragon.
    – hoacin
    Feb 21, 2017 at 9:03
  • If you play the accelerated dragon, there is no way to avoid this.
    – ToddM
    Feb 21, 2017 at 23:59
  • Your answer is right but you are answering wrong question. This is one of popular move orders to challenge accelerated dragon, no doubt about that.
    – hoacin
    Feb 22, 2017 at 7:04
  • I do not see what is wrong in playing 0-0-0 in Accelerated Dragon . This is a Standard move order . Feb 23, 2017 at 12:04
  • So the correct answer is there is nothing wrong with castling queenside in the dragon if you follow my move order.
    – ToddM
    Feb 25, 2017 at 17:57

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