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

Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #877044 in Books
Published on: 2001-09
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
224 pages
Customer Reviews

Good for club player, at super grandmaster level, it would fail!!
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.

Easy and Complete Coverage on the Dragon
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.

The best book ever on the Dragon
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.