Black can adopt a variety of set-ups, among them the Dragon variation, which begins
- 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6
In this variation, Black fianchettos a Bishop on the h8-a1 diagonal. This is called the "Dragon" variation because Black´s pawn structure is supposed to look like a dragon. Another reason for the name could be that a very aggressive middlegame usually develops following opposite side castling. This is especially true of the Yugoslav Attack, an aggressive system featuring pawn storms on opposite sides of the board. White tries to break open the Black kingside and deliver mate down the h-file, while black seeks counterplay on the queenside with sacrificial attacks, rook sacrifices on c3 are often thematic and strong. Main exponents of the dragon include Eduard Gufeld, Veselin Topalov, Andrew Soltis, Jonathan Mestel, Tony Miles and Chris Ward. Garry Kasparov used the dragon with success as a surprise weapon against world title challenger Viswanathan Anand in 1995.
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