Dragon Pawn Structure
Posted by admin on July 18, 2008 |
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.
Tags: Sicilian Defence, Sicilian Defense, Sicilian Dragon
Filed Under: Dragon, Sicilian Defense Basics
Comments (2)
A great site by the way, it is wonderful that you are specializing in the Sicilian Defense. I just have a simple question and that is to do with the history of the Dragon. Who came up with this name? Someone once said to me that it was called the Dragon because it looks like a dragon hum….just like the stars in the sky have names given to Gods and Goddesses. But I can actually see them but fail to see the dragon shape on the board, most probably after 0-0 and the King becomes it’s head!
I see it if you look ag h7 as the head, e7 & f7 as the body & then a7 & b7 as the tail…it’s weird & kind of a stretch but that is how I make it work.