Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This is a fine chess book about the Dragon, a variation of the Sicilian defence in which Black puts his King Bishop (the glorious "Dragon Bishop") on g7, where it exerts pressure on White's Queenside. The opening moves are 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6, after which White has several choices.

One idea is 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 Nc6 8 Qd2 0-0. This is the well-known and highly analyzed Yugoslav Attack. As Martin explains, White then castles long with the intention of playing h4 and h5, to open the rook file. White may also play Bc4. White generally wants to get rid of that Dragon Bishop (say, with Bh6) and to get the Queen into the attack (say, with Qh6), get rid of Black's defending Knight on f6 (usually via Nd5) and mate Black on h7. Martin starts us right out with a very famous Dragon game, in which then fifteen year old Bobby Fischer (with White) defeated Bent Larsen in the 1958 Portoroz Interzonal. That game reached the Yugoslav Attack position after eight moves and continued 9 Bc4 Nxd4 10 Bxd4 Be6 11 Bb3 Qa5 12 0-0-0 b5 13 Kb1 b4 14 Nd5 (as Martin mentions, the Knight was heading here anyway) 14...Bxd5 15 Bxd5 Rac8 16 Bb3

At this point, Fischer, in his "60 Memorable Games" commented that Larsen was not going to get another chance to grab the Bishop! Martin agrees that Larsen ought to have taken it. It is clear that White has a big advantage now. And Fischer says here that he "felt the game was in the bag if I didn't botch it. I'd won dozens of skittles games in analogous positions and had it down to a science: pry open the KR file, sac, sac, mate!" I certainly can understand why Fischer said that!

However, Martin makes a mistake here that costs him a star from me. He puts Fischer's quote not after White's 16th move, but after Black's 5th move, as if Fischer thought the entire Dragon were busted! And he tosses in the absurd comment that "today, even Fischer would find life a great deal more complicated against a Dragon specialist." I suspect Martin is wrong about that! Would he really like to defend Black's position at move 16 against someone of Fischer's strength?

Anyway, Martin shows us how Fischer then won this very instructive game.

The author has some good chapters on the Yugoslav. He thinks 9 0-0-0 is the most dangerous move for White (I agree), and advises Black to avoid it (with 7 f3 Nc6 8 Qd2 Bd7). We also see Karpov's favorite, 9 g4. Black needs to defend very accurately here, but Martin gives some good advice on how to do so. Of course, if you take Martin's earlier advice and play 8...Bd7, you won't get into this position in the first place. Martin then has over 50 pages on 9 Bc4. His recommendation for Black is to try the "Chinese Dragon" (9 Bc4 Bd7 10 0-0-0 Rb8). The idea of this rook move is to support ...b5.

After that, there is a chapter on the Classical Variation, with 6 Be2, and then an excellent one on 6 Bc4. Martin also gives some other tries for White at move 6, including 6 g3. There is also an entire chapter on 6 f4. This is the Levenfish, and it's what I play, both because I like it and because I do not like to put my Bishop on e3. While Black ought to be fine in this line, Martin shows that White's threat of e5 gives her some excellent practical chances, especially against the right opponent at the right time.

Here is a game I played with White against the Dragon against a Candidate Master when I was a very weak player myself.

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 f4 Nc6 7 Bb5 (as Martin says, this is Botvinnik's move) 7...Bd7 (this is all Martin gives for Black, but this line is trappy and I think he should have given more advice here) 8 Bxc6 bxc6 9 e5 dxe5 (9...Nd5 makes more sense) 10 fxe5 Nd5? (this move loses; 10...Ng4 is the right move, and Black should stand a little better after 11 e6 Bxe6) 11 Qf3 Bg7 12 Nxd5 cxd5 13 0-0 0-0 14 Qxd5 (White's attack has played itself so far. I didn't play the rest of the game all that well, but as you will see, I didn't need to.) 14...e6 15 Qe4 Rb8 16 b3 Qa5 17 Re1 Rfc8 18 Bg5 Qc5 19 Bf6 (trying to get rid of that Dragon Bishop) 19...Bc6 20 Qh4 Bf8 21 Kh1 Ba8 22 Qg4 (22 c4 is better.) 22...h5 23 Qf4 Qd5 24 Re2 Rc3 25 Rf1 Qb7 26 Rf3 Rbc8 27 Rxc3 Rxc3 28 Rf2 Qe4 29 Qxe4 Bxe4 30 Re2 Bf5?! 31 Nxf5 exf5? (now it's really over) 32 e6 Rc6 33 e7 Bxe7 34 Bxe7 Re6 35 Rxe6 fxe6 36 Bf6 Black Resigns

I like this book, but let's just say I'd much rather have White than Black in the Dragon!

This was a very good book covering all white responces to the dragon in good amounts. One criticism of this book was made by a reveiwer who said that it should cover the Accelerated Dragon. But, that is a different opening (and, if you'd like to study that, there is a different 'Starting Out Book on it). The book gives very honest opinions; unlike other dragon books I've read, it isn't trying to convince the reader to play the dragon, and so won't hesitate to say a certain line of the dragon is bad. This book doesn't give huge detail, but it's a 'starting out' book, so it's certainly enough. I recommend this book!

As an introduction to the Dragon with 2. ... d6 this book does very well, presenting material in the form of complete games with analysis. This is very important to us class level players so we can see what kind of middle game positions arise and how they are played.

The book covers variations of the Yugoslav Attack quite nicely, giving ideas for both sides, again with full games to illustrate the principles. The Levenfish Attack is also covered sufficiently.

So what's missing? While it might be asking too much, there is nothing at all on the Accelerated Dragon. Remember, this is a "Starting Out" book --- and at the class level starting out with the "normal" Dragon (with 2. ... d6) is anything but easy --- many teachers suggest the Accelerated Dragon as an option to avoid all the complex theory of the Yugoslav.

I realize the book can only be a certain length. But it leaves out an important option. One star off for that, but the full four stars for the quality and understandability of the material presented.