Bad Dragon Endgame
Hi guys,
I (~1950 fide) have been happily playing the accelerated dragon for a while, and have booked up pretty nicely. Whenever white didn’t play sicilian sidelines or Nc3, and opted for the maroczy bind with 5. c4 however, I’ve basically been winging it.
I’ll get around to learning the Maroczy lines from my chessable course at some point, but I’ve considered another approach.
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6?!
Via this moveorder black gets the desired accelerated dragon positions after 6. Be3
The refutation of this concept, 6. Nxc6 is played ~25% on 2200+ lichess. After 6… dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8, I get Black really never should be winning these games, but they seem practically just fine to hold?
Marin advocates for this approach in his Modern Chess article under the name Pseudo-Dragon , though I haven’t seen what his recommendation is after 7… Kxd8
After 8. Bc4 there are two approaches for Black, either 8… Ke8 or 8… Bg7
In Giri’s e4 course he gives the following under the less flattering name of ‘Bad Dragon Endgame’:
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bc4 Bg7 9. a4 Rf8 10. Bf4 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6
And the (according to him) better 8… Ke8 line
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bc4 Ke8 9. e5 Nd7 10. e6 fxe6 11. Bxe6 Bg7 12. Be3.
Yes it looks slightly miserable, but white probably has less experience in these positions than Black will and the alternative of allowing a Maroczy is often not considered superb either.
Saric’s chessable course extends the line with 12… Nf8 13. Bb3 Be6 14. O-O-O Bxb3 15. axb3 also claiming a nice endgame for white
Miguel Santon’s chessable course gives the same line as Giri against 8… Ke8. And against 8… Bg7
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bc4 Bg7 9. a4 Rf8 10. Bf4 Ke8 11. a5
FM Nemec’s Stomp the Sicilian gives the same line as Giri and Santon
Is it crazy to decide to spend some time learning the ideas in this endgame instead of the hundreds of Maroczy lines? Do you guys have any experience in this endgame?
Tldr: wishing to avoid the Maroczy for a bit, or as a fun surprise, I’m considering the endgame after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Qxd8+ Kxd8 8. Bc4 with either 8… Ke8 or 8… Bg7. Thoughts?