PLAY THE SICILIAN DRAGON
Author: Edward Dearing
256 pages
$27.50
Gambit 2004
Reviewed by John Watson
Edward Dearing’s PLAY THE SICILIAN DRAGON is an amazingly detailed work that provides a repertoire for Black in the Dragon. Apart from the main lines, it gives an overview of various alternatives. The Soltis Variation 12...h5 versus 9.Bc4 and 9...d5 versus 9.0-0-0 are the featured antidotes to the Yugoslav Attack. Dearing presents a few (but not completely comprehensive) alternative systems against both 9.Bc4 and 9.0-0-0, which are meant as a prelude for further research in the literature. Thus he doesn’t cover them as thoroughly as his main choices, but gives the reader plenty with which to form a general repertoire. The Yugoslav uses up a little more than 80% of the book, which may well be proportional to its usage on the master level. The Classical Variation (6.Be2 with 0-0), Levenfish (6.f4), Fianchetto (6.g3), and 6.Bc4 take up 45 pages. The author’s intent for these sections was to provide more general ideas and games that was the case with the Yugoslav, but the material is still quite dense (thankfully, I think) with relatively less explanation than elsewhere.
Dearing has an engaging style and explains both the ideas and their evolution extremely well. His Introduction is very original, tracing his own use of the Dragon and even discussing the drawbacks of Black’s pawn structure (for example, its rigidity, even “passivity” and the difficulty of enforcing ...d5 without creating weaknesses); naturally these disadvantages are counterbalanced by Black’s familiar and extensive set of attacking ideas. Overall, though, this is a relatively advanced book (at least in terms of copious detail and pages of analysis and lightly annotated games), probably best suited for 1700 players and above, but also for enthusiastic and considerably lower-rated students who love this opening (there are many such). It’s a question of whether you like a coverage of a repertoire fulfilling the role of a reference book, with a strong guiding hand by the author (as I do); or a book with an uncluttered emphasis on ideas, but lacking the kind of detail that is so important as you gain more experience.
As with every book on the Dragon, my students have found a couple of gaps or marginal assessments here and there, but not many. This is the new Dragon bible and because of the analysis it will remain essential to every Dragon player for years to come. Gambit’s emphasis has always been on quality and depth, thus giving their books a long shelf life. PLAY THE SICILIAN DRAGON is a great example of this, and also one of the best opening books in recent years.
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