A Challenge To The Hyper-Accelerated Dragon

MY round-two game at Mariánské Lázně featured White's main alternative to 3.d4 against the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6, namely 3.c3!?

As I pointed out in my notes to the game - the full score can be seen at https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2022/01/marianske-lazne-round-two.html - 3.c3!? scores 54% in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database, three percentage points more than 3.d4.

The main line continues 3...Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.e5 (6.exd5 is also popular) Bg4, at which my opponent in the Seniors 50+ played 7.Qb3!?

However the main move is 7.Bb5+, and that is what I want to look at here.

Position after 7.Bb5+

Black's commonest reply is 7...Nc6, but White is thought to get an advantage with 8.Bxc6+!? bxc6 9.Nbd2 followed by kingside castling and a quick h3.

The move 7...Nd7!? is recommended in Chess Openings For Black, Explained (CIRC 2005) by Lev Alburt Roman Dzindzichashvili and Eugene Perelshteyn, and is the choice of my main analysis engines Stockfish14.1 and Komodo12.1.1.

White commonly replies 8.0-0, which looks sensible as the white king is hardly going to be safe on the queenside.

Grandmaster Boris Savchenko has had this position three times in Mega22, playing 8...e6 the first time but 8...a6 subsequently.

Putting the question to the bishop is the recommendation of Alburt etc

White has three important responses.

A) 9.Bxd7+!?

After 9...Qxd7 White usually plays, albeit from a small sample, 10.Nbd2!?

Supporting the king's knight in this way is a common idea in lines stemming from 6.e5.

Alburt etc recommend 10...Nh6!?, which does not appear in Mega22.

The authors claim it gives Black "a good game," although the engines prefer White.

An obvious alternative is 10...e6, when 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Ne7 gave White maybe a slight edge in Vadim Zvjaginsev (2640) - Jacek Gdański (2537), Fide World Championship Knockout (Moscow) 2001 (1-0, 44 moves).

B) 9.Ba4

All six games in Mega22 continue 9...e6 10.Nbd2, when the engines like Serguei Vesselovsky's 10...Rc8.

The game Ramil Hasangatin (2498) - Vesselovsky (2353), Tábor (Czechia) 2010, continued 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 Ne7 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bf4 0-0 15.Qd2 Nb6 16.Bb3 g5!? 17.Be3 Nf5, when the engines give White a slight edge. The game was drawn in 34 moves, although the final position in Mega22 is clearly won for Black, so the game may have been inputted wrongly.

C) 9.Bd3

This is the move blacks should probably expect to see, at least at club level.

After 9...e6 10.Nbd2 Ne7 11.h3 Black can capture on f3, as often happens in these lines, but probably better is Igor Glek's 11...Bf5!?, when Miklós Németh (2469) Glek (2537), EU Cup (Ohrid, Macedonia) continued 12.Nb3 Qb6 13.Bg5 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 h6 15.Bd2 Nc6 16.Rfc1 0-0 with the engines giving White a slight edge, although the game was drawn in 65 moves.

CONCLUSION: 7.Bb5+ is a challenging move to face, but Black gets a reasonable game after 7...Nd7!?, even if White can claim a slight edge.