8765432abcdefgh1

Sicilian Defense

Dragon Variation, Levenfish Variation, Main Line

B71tacticaloffbeat

  1. 1.e4c5
  2. 2.Nf3d6
  3. 3.d4cxd4
  4. 4.Nxd4Nf6
  5. 5.Nc3g6
  6. 6.f4Nbd7
82 games44%52%

Sicilian Dragon line in which Black answers the Levenfish 6. f4 with 6...Nbd7, guarding e5 against White's thematic central advance.

Train it in Theoria

About the Main Line

With 6...Nbd7, Black answers the Levenfish by covering e5 with the queen's knight, which holds back White's planned e5 push. White's traditional reply is 7. Nf3. Engines prefer developing the queen, as in 7. Qe2, the choice of Gevorg Harutjunyan, or 7. Qf3. In online play 7. Bc4 is the most frequent continuation, and Black has scored well in a small sample of games. Engines still give White a slight edge.

Popular continuations