Back Dračí varianta Czech Drachenvariante German Sisilialainen puolustus, lohikäärmemuunnelma Finnish Variante du dragon French Difesa siciliana, variante Dragone Italian ドラゴン・ヴァリエーション Japanese Айдаһар нұсқасы Kazakh Draachevariant LB Pūķa variants Latvian/Lettish സിസിലിയൻ പ്രതിരോധം, ഡ്രാഗൺ വേരിയേഷൻ Malayalam
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| Moves | 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | B70–B79 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Origin | Louis Paulsen (c. 1880) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Constellation Draco | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | Open Sicilian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In chess, the Dragon Variation[1] is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Defence and begins with the moves:
In the Dragon, Black's bishop is fianchettoed on g7, castling on the king's side while aiming the bishop at the center and queenside. 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 kingside pawn storm with h4–h5 and g4. To involve the a1-rook in the attack, White usually castles queenside, placing the white king on the semi-open c-file. The result is often both sides attacking the other's king with all available resources. The line is considered one of the sharpest of all chess openings.[2]
The modern form of the Dragon was originated by German master Louis Paulsen around 1880.[3] It was played frequently by Henry Bird that decade, then received general acceptance around 1900 when played by Harry Nelson Pillsbury and other masters.
In his 1953 autobiography, the Russian chess master and amateur astronomer Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky claimed that he coined the name "Dragon Variation" in 1901, after the fancied resemblance between Black's kingside pawn structure and the constellation Draco.[4][5] The earliest known printed reference, found by chess historian Edward Winter, is in the Jan-Feb 1914 issue of Wiener Schachzeitung.[6]
- ^ "Sicilian, Dragon Variation (B70)". Chess openings. Chessgames.com. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
- ^ Wolff 1997.
- ^ Hooper & Whyld 1987, p. 95.
- ^ Edward Winter presents: Unsolved Chess Mysteries (8), Chessbase.com, 18 June 2007
- ^ Martin 2005, p. 5, Intro.
- ^ Edward Winter, C.N. 7826 - The Dragon Variation, chesshistory.com, 27 October 2012