Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3
For many years the refutation of Black's move-order, which began as the Hyper-Accelerated Variation of the Sicilian but transposed into a 'merely' Accelerated Variation, was supposed to be 5.c4, setting up a Maróczy Bind. The point was that if Black failed to 'force' Nc3 by playing an early ...Nf6, White should punish the omission by clamping down on the centre.
Modern thinking, I believe, holds that while the Bind gives White a long-term slight edge, defensive techniques have improved to the extent that Black should be reasonably comfortable. Similar views are often expressed about the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit.
However, it is one thing for defensive techniques to have improved at elite levels, quite another for the same thing to have happened among club players.
Nevertheless, it is not every white who revels in the type of positional play the Maróczy usually entails, which is perhaps why there are almost 29,000 examples of the text in Chessbase's 2021 Mega database and just over 21,000 examples of 5.c4 (but the latter scores 57%, seven percentage points more than 5.Nc3).
I suspect the most important thing is to play what you feel most comfortable with, as is often the case unless one move can be shown to be seriously faulty.
5...Bg7 6.Nf3!?
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| What is White's idea? |
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Much more popular in Mega21 are 6.Be3, 6.Nb3!?, 6.Nde2!? and 6.Nxc6!? All five moves have been played by grandmasters.
The idea of the text, which, at least in Mega21, only goes back to 1982, is presumably to interfere with Black's normal Accelerated plan of getting in ...d5 without spending a tempo on ...d6.
The drawback is that the white king's knight has spent three tempi getting to f3, from where it blocks the white f pawn, which often advances to f4 in the Sicilian.
6...Nf6
Also popular is 6...d6, which concedes the point about ...d5 but argues Black has little to fear since White has spent time manoeuvring the king's knight to what is arguably not its best square.
7.Bd3?!
Not only is this passive, but it seems to run contrary to the spirit of 6.Nf3!? More popular in Mega21 is 7.Bc4.
Note that 7.e5? runs into 7...Ng4, but the analysis engines Stockfish13 and Komodo12.1.1 point out a bizarre trap in 8.Ng1!? Ngxe5? 9.f4, when the black king's knight is a gonner. However, after 8.Ng1!? the engines reckon 8...d5!? 9.exd6 Bd4!? is strong for Black.
7...0-0
The thematic 7...d5!? would be a novelty, at least in Mega 21, and also probably good.
8.Bf4?!
A strange-looking move, perhaps hoping to get a knight into c7. Most popular in Mega21 is 8.0-0, when the position, according to the engines, is more-or-less equal.
8...d5
Getting this move in without first having to play ...d6 is a main reason - probably the main reason - Accelerated players 'risk' the Maróczy.
9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Qd2?
This should drop a pawn, but Black is also much better after 10.Bd2 or 10.Nxd5.
10...Nxf4?
Winning the bishop-pair, but Black can win a pawn with 10...Nxc3 11.bxc3 Qa5.
11.Qxf4 Bxc3+?!
Giving up the bishop-pair in return for inflicting structural weaknesses, but the engines' 11...Qb6 seems better.
12.bxc3 e5?
Not paying enough attention to the weak squares around the black king. The engines' 12...Qa5 is better.
13.Qh6 f6?!
This allows a drawing combination, and anyway may be inferior to 13...Qf6.
14.Bxg6!?
The opening is effectively over as objectively Black should now play 14...hxg6 and accept a draw by repetition. Instead I played on with 14...Qe7?!, although the game was eventually drawn.
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