Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Main Line

With 9. Bc4, White develops the light-squared bishop before castling, rather than playing 9. O-O-O or 9. g4 at once. On c4 it controls d5, which takes away Black's freeing ...d5 break, and it presses on f7 toward the castled king. The drawback is that the bishop stands on the half-open c-file, where ...Rc8 and knight jumps to e5 or c4 gain time against it, so it often retreats to b3. White usually follows with O-O-O and the familiar Bh6, h4-h5 and g4 plan, while Black counterattacks on the queenside, often with an exchange sacrifice on c3.

9...Bd7 is by far the most common reply and prepares ...Rc8 or ...Rb8. 9...Nxd4 and 9...a6 are the main alternatives, and White has scored especially well against 9...a6. Rarer tries include the Sosonko Variation 9...Nd7 and the Byrne Variation 9...a5. Engines give White a slight edge, and White also scores somewhat better than Black in online games. The play is sharp, forcing and heavily analyzed.