Customer Reviews

Winning With the Sicilian Dragon 2: A Complete Repertoire Against 1 e4 For the Attacking Player

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This book has just the right mix of theory and analysis as well as tactical themes. Unlike some books (such as The Complete Dragon and Ultimate Dragon by Gufeld and Stetsko) this book focuses primarily on white systems against the Dragon and offers one or two systems against each of White's systems. It also covers early deviations once the basic Dragon position has been reached (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6). It includes some brilliant wins by Black (which is what the reader should strive to emulate) as well as some examples of Black players underestimating the potential strength of White's kingside attack.

There is even a section on anti-Sicilians which help the reader to find lines in which play is similar to that of the Dragon so that the reader does not have to sift through pages of an opening reference to find an antidote.

All in all, a great buy for players looking to add the Dragon to their repertoire.

Chris Ward is an expert on the Dragon. This is the second edition of the book and he has other publications on the subject, at least one video and a website where paying customers get his latest analysis. Above all he has the incredible ability to present the Dragon in all its beauty. Chris style is original, funny and makes learning the Dragon a pleasure.

This book presents complete sample games on each variation and there is an index at the end with the opening tree. One caveat: the book does not deal with the anti-Sicilians. For that you need to look elsewhere. Chris only presents a few pages on this subject and as soon as the word gets out that you are a strong Dragon player, guess what? Your opponents start playing the closed Sicilian or an anti-Sicilian. I hope on the third edition he takes a deeper look on this issue.

If you only buy one book on the Dragon, get this one.

now lets talk facts...
1.the dragon is a sound opening , if its not u wouldnt find it ever in the GM games not even once, well even not as surprising weapon by kasparov
2. all the lines ,except the YUGOSLAV , gives black an advantage if played by an aggressive player who knows what he is doing since he would be carrying a very sharp sword in his hands
3. it gives the real pleasure types of games like the romantic days of chess where tactics , tactics, tactics was everything
4. a very theoretical opening , some lines u need to know more than 20 moves.

NOW...what about the yugoslav? yes this is a dangerous reply by white , BUT if white is not FULLY AWARE of the whole theory , he may be slaughtered easily by the dragon
its a very sharp opening , that if used elegently could be unbeatable (to a large degree)"even against the yugoslav"

SO... whats needed? u need a skillfull trainer to show u how to use that destructive weapon, one who spent his life playing that opening , frankly you wouldnt find stronger in that area more than C.WARD
i read that book twice now , its a great pleasure and informative reading, he covers "almost" everything about the dragon , although v little about the "anti-sicilian lines" but there are good books in that area (like palliser-gallagher-and rogozengo)

if u already played the dragon before u will find a new world , if its new to u u will love it
one final word its a REPERTOIRE book, WARD only stick to one system of the dragon against the yugoslav (Qa5 then Rfc8) no other line is covered , some may not agree but if u tried that system u will not change it
great book for aggressive players , who r bored from positional quiet games

As John Nunn said in his book,understanding chess move by move, those Dragon addicts would never abandon this opening. I just wonder if Chris Ward's claim that Dragon is such a POWERFUL weapon in Sicilian, why supergrandmaster ( those rating above 2650 ) would not use it, and still stick to Najdorf, there must be some reasons on that. Though Kasparov used it as a surprise weapon against Anand in 1995 was successful, but this is just one-off show. Later Kasparov still sticked to Najdorf. So my impression is that Dragon may be good at club level player, for encountering one of those supergrandmaster, I think as Bobby Fischer's comment in " My 60 memorable games", you would be slained!! I always wonder if there is another Bobby Fischer or Fischer re-juvanted in nowaday, all Dragon player would be killed instinctly if they dare to use Dragon defense against him!! Anyway, I still give 5 stars to this book for the clear writing and enthusiasm from Chris Ward.