Review: The Dragon Sicilian by Anish Giri

The Dragon Sicilian: A Take-No-Prisoners Repertoire Versus 1 e4

by Anish Giri

New in Chess / Chessable 2022, 246 pages, hardback

Sample material available in pdf on the publisher's website.

First impressions
A complete repertoire for Black after 1 e4 c5 in a slim volume by one of the strongest players in the world? I couldn't wait to dig in. Disclaimer: I am not an expert on Dragon theory. But as a Pirc devotee I've always been interested in these structures and followed Dragon developments from afar.

This is part of a new series by New in Chess which turns Chessable courses into book form. This is useful for readers who, like me, prefer an old-fashioned book to the Chessable layout, or want a slightly less pricey alternative to the online course. Giri's Dragon course appeared in 2021. As far as I can tell, the book has not been updated since then.

The presentation is beautiful. The book features diagrams printed in colour, one per column, i.e. two per page. The layout and font are satisfying and the paper good quality. The indices are detailed and illustrated with small diagrams. The volume has a feeling of permanence that sets it apart from most chess books.

Giri's approach

Until recently I would have assumed that an opening book containing no bibliography and relatively few game references must be quite shoddy. I would also have been automatically sceptical about squeezing a complete Dragon plus anti-Sicilians repertoire into one slimmish tome. After all, the Dragon is ferociously complex and has a rich history. But times are changing fast. A super-GM armed with super-engines can now often produce more accurate and creative material than the most thorough database search. Together with engine-based analysis, Giri's sources are often correspondence games. And nowadays readers can easily supplement Giri's outline repertoire with the free Lichess database.

There is no thematic introduction, by contrast (say) with Gawain Jones's two-volume repertoire book on the Dragon. Nevertheless, I find Giri's explanations very lucid and practical. Engine-approved though it is, the whole repertoire feels 'human', dependable, and understandable.

Contents
006 Explanation of symbols
007 Introduction
010 Chapter 1 Yugoslav Attack: 9.Bc4 overview
016 Chapter 2 Yugoslav Attack with 9.Bc4 Nxd4
030 Chapter 3 Dragon main line 9.0-0-0 d5: tenth move sidelines
046 Chapter 4 Dragon main line 9.0-0-0 d5: 10.exd5
064 Chapter 5 The early 9.g4
075 Chapter 6 Classical System: 6.Be2
088 Chapter 7 Fianchetto System: 6.g3
095 Chapter 8 Levenfish System: 6.f4
102 Chapter 9 6.Bc4 System
107 Chapter 10 Sixth move sidelines
115 Chapter 11 Move orders & Accelerated Dragon
119 Chapter 12 Dragodorf: bonus chapter
124 Chapter 13 The system with 5.f3
130 Chapter 14 The queen recapture: 4.Qxd4
145 Chapter 15 Moscow Variation: 3.Bb5+
157 Chapter 16 Various third moves
175 Chapter 17 Closed Sicilian: 2.Nc3 g6
202 Chapter 18 Alapin Sicilian: 2.c3
214 Chapter 19 Various second moves
237 Index of variations

Main choices
One attraction of the Dragon is that only one White reply is really critical: the Yugoslav Attack. After 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6, this runs 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 and now White usually chooses between 9 Bc4, 9 0-0-0 and 9 g4.

Giri comes up with a surprise against 9 Bc4, which cuts out swathes of theory. This is 9...Nxd4 10 Bxd4 Be6, an old line that he has fully rehabilitated.

Giri thus avoids the traditional 9...Bd7, a major difference compared with the other recent, competing Dragon works I'm aware of:
- Chris Ward's The Sicilian Dragon: The Real Deal (3 ChessBase DVDs). See also Ward's chesspublishing.com updates.
- Mihail Marin's Complete Dragon Repertoire
- Marcin Siechiechowicz's Sicilian Defense Dragon Variation
- Gawain Jones's Grandmaster Repertoire (Quality Chess 2015)
- David Vigorito's Chess Developments: The Dragon (Everyman Chess 2011)

Thus Giri steers clear of current theoretical problems faced by Black in the hair-raising 9...Bd7 lines. He does offer a backup line in chapter 1, starting 9...Bd7 10 0-0-0 Rc8 11 Bb3 Nxd4! ('the modern treatment'), but refrains from analysing the 10 h4 jungle here. Some readers will wish to consult one of the books or DVDs listed above in order to fill out this backup line.

Take-No-Prisoners?
9...Nxd4 is a pillar of the repertoire but also creates a problem for Giri's concept. This line does not live up to the swashbuckling subtitle. Rather it is quite solid, often leading to more dour positions than Dragon aficionados might like. It's typical Giri, perhaps - impregnable rather than thrilling. To adopt this repertoire you have to be happy to play games like this:

Main line 9 0-0-0 d5 10 exd5 Nxd5 11 Nxc6 bxc6

This is 'possibly the main line at the highest level these days' according to Giri, the critical continuation being
12 Bd4. Now after 12...e5 13 Bc5 Re8 14 Bc4 Be6 15 h4 Giri unveils 15...f5; Vigorito's book had considered only 15...Rd8 which turns out good for White. 15...f5 instead prevents White from gaining a grip on the kingside with h4-h5-h6. This time you have to be happy to play games like this:

Again, Black can enter this line with confidence against literally any level of opposition - but a rather technical endgame is a likely destination.

Other Yugoslavs

9 g4 is met convincingly by 9...Be6.

Giri includes a 'bonus' chapter on the Dragadorf: 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 a6!? when Black sometimes gets to expand with ...b5 and ...h5. This looks great, but I wanted more than the 5 pages. It's worth noting that Junior Tay has just published an entire book on the move 7...h5 in this line, the 'Hungarian Dragon' (Carsten Chess, 2022).

It goes without saying that Giri introduces many new ideas throughout.

Anti-Sicilians

I very much like Giri's recommendation against the Alapin, 1 e4 c5 2 c3 d5 3 exd5 Qxd5 and now if 4 d4 then 4...g6!?, which is light on theory and seems in the spirit of the Dragon.

Against 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 Bb5+ Giri recommends the solid 3...Bd7. This tends to enable a kingside fianchetto, but may be less combative than many Dragon players would choose.

In both cases Giri varies from the recommendations presented in his Najdorf repertoire for Chessable.

Conclusion

This is a top-class repertoire book. I haven't even attempted the herculean task of finding holes in the analysis. Every Dragon player will want it; it will get new Dragon players started quickly at practically any level. But nothing can ever be perfect. Players wanting traditional, risky Dragon chaos will have to supplement Giri's work with something else.