Sicilian Defense

14. Accelerated Dragon against the Maróczy Bind (5.c4)

With 5.c4 White blocks the ...d5 push and takes space. Black answers with patience: ...d6, ...Bd7, the knight trade with ...Nxd4 and the bishop on c6 against e4. It is a solid position, rich in maneuvering.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Be2 d6 9.O-O Bd7 10.Qd2 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bc6

Move by move

  1. 1.e4 – White occupies the center with the king's pawn, controls d5 and f5 and frees the queen and the f1-bishop. This is the move we answer with the Sicilian.
  2. 1...c5 – The Sicilian Defense: Black controls d4 with a flank pawn instead of occupying the center. If White plays d4, Black will trade c5 for d4 and have two central pawns against one and the half-open c-file.
  3. 2.Nf3 – White develops the knight toward the center and prepares d2-d4 to open the game: it is the road to the Open Sicilian, the most ambitious try against us.
  4. 2...Nc6 – Black develops the knight toward the center and controls d4: it is the move order of the Accelerated Dragon, which postpones ...d6.
  5. 3.d4 – White opens the center: it offers the d-pawn for the c-pawn trade to develop the pieces quickly.
  6. 3...cxd4 – Black trades and opens the c-file. With the knight already on c6, after Nxd4 it will be able to choose between the Accelerated Dragon (...g6), the Taimanov (...e6) or the lines with ...Nf6 and ...e5.
  7. 4.Nxd4 – White recaptures with the knight, which dominates the center from d4. Now Black chooses the type of Sicilian.
  8. 4...g6 – The Accelerated Dragon: Black fianchettoes before playing ...d6. That way, in many lines it will be able to push ...d5 in one move instead of two.
  9. 5.c4 – The Maróczy Bind: with pawns on c4 and e4 White prevents ...d5 forever and takes space away from Black. In exchange the d4 square and the c4-pawn become targets.
  10. 5...Bg7 – Black fianchettoes and presses on d4 at once: the white knight is attacked twice and White has to protect it.
  11. 6.Be3 – The bishop defends the d4-knight without blocking the c4-pawn. White will then develop Nc3 and Be2.
  12. 6...Nf6 – The knight develops and attacks e4, forcing White to play Nc3 before other plans.
  13. 7.Nc3 – The knight defends e4 and controls d5. White has the typical Maróczy scheme: space in the center and little activity for the black pieces.
  14. 7...O-O – Black castles before deciding the structure: ...d6 and ...Nxd4 will follow, depending on how White develops.
  15. 8.Be2 – The bishop develops on the e2 diagonal to support g4 and prepare short castling. It is the most solid scheme against the Accelerated Dragon.
  16. 8...d6 – Black plays ...d6 only now: against the Bind ...d5 is not possible, so the pawn controls e5 and c5 and frees the c8-bishop.
  17. 9.O-O – White castles and completes development. Now it must decide how to use the space: usually with f3, Qd2 and b3 to support c4.
  18. 9...Bd7 – The bishop goes to d7 to then pass to c6, where it will attack the e4-pawn after the knights are traded on d4.
  19. 10.Qd2 – The queen connects the rooks and prepares Bh6 to trade the g7-bishop. From d2 it also supports the d4-knight.
  20. 10...Nxd4 – Black trades the knights: with fewer pieces the lack of space weighs less, and the c6 square is freed for the bishop.
  21. 11.Bxd4 – White recaptures with the bishop, which from d4 challenges the g7-bishop on the long diagonal.
  22. 11...Bc6 – The bishop from c6 attacks e4 together with the f6-knight. White must defend it with f3 or Bd3, and Black prepares ...a5 and ...Nd7.

How to exploit the position

White has more space, but Black has no weaknesses and has fewer pieces to arrange after the knight trade. Black plays on the dark squares and against c4.

Master tips

Piece trades against the lack of space

In the Maróczy Black has less space: every piece trade makes life easier for it.

Model games