The Sicilian Defense

Dragon Pawn Structure

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One of the sharpest set-ups for Black when playing the Sicilian Defense is the Dragon pawn structure. After Black trades off his c-pawn this structure is achieved by the pawn moves d6 and g6. In the diagram of this set-up you will notice the dragon shape that the pawns make with the d and g pawns being the legs and the h pawn the head.

Some of the main ideas involved in Dragon variations of the Sicilian Defense include:

Black is able to fianchetto his dark bishop on the long a1-h8 diagonal. This dragon bishop is a great attacking piece and often creates fits for white. Black’s pawn structure is very solid and difficult for white to break down. Black will try to storm the queenside via the c-file with his rooks and by rolling his a and b pawns down the board. Sometimes Black tries to post a knight on c4 where it can exert pressure on the b2 pawn.

The illustrative game, Rauzer – Botvinnik is a quite famous example of this Sicilian Defense structure.