{"id":3855,"date":"2024-03-01T11:21:45","date_gmt":"2024-03-01T11:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/?p=3855"},"modified":"2024-11-14T05:37:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T05:37:53","slug":"book-highlight-dragonmasters-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/book-highlight-dragonmasters-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Highlight: DragonMasters, Volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There are some chess openings \u2013 such as the Grob and the Black Lion &#8211; which gain a cult following at club level. This is because they appeal to maverick players, who like to go their own way, but generally speaking such openings struggle to hold up against well-prepared opponents because realistically their theoretical status is not particularly healthy.<br><br>But one cult opening bucks the trend, has been played by several World Champions, and is also the subject of a fierce theoretical debate, driving the theory of the ever-forwards.<br><br>There is no opening quite like the Sicilian Dragon. Mikhail Botvinnik, never one to play an opening he didn\u2019t fully believe in, used it at the very highest level and Garry Kasparov surprised the world in general \u2013 and his title opponent Vishy Anand in particular \u2013 to score two wins and a draw with the Dragon in the 1995 World Chess Championship match. It was a pivotal point in the match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1370\" height=\"753\" src=\"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/13GK-An1995-copy-e1436898908307.jpg\" alt=\"Anand - Kasparov 1995\" class=\"wp-image-3856\" style=\"width:565px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:29px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Anand had looked very comfortable in the match and Kasparov struggled to impose himself when in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chessgames.com\/perl\/chessgame?gid=1018626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game 11<\/a> after\u00a0<strong>1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3<\/strong>, he eschewed his standard 5\u2026a6 (the Najdorf Variation) in favor of\u00a0<strong>5\u2026g6!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"rpbchessboard-spacerBefore\"><\/p>\n\n<div id=\"rpbchessboard-6adf6782bc9d7-1\" class=\"rpbchessboard-chessboard rpbchessboard-diagramAlignment-center\">\n    <noscript>\n        <div class=\"rpbchessboard-javascriptWarning\">\n            You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess diagram visualization.        <\/div>\n    <\/noscript>\n    <div class=\"rpbchessboard-chessboardAnchor\"><\/div>\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n        jQuery(document).ready(function($) {\n            var selector = '#' + \"rpbchessboard-6adf6782bc9d7-1\" + ' .rpbchessboard-chessboardAnchor';\n            RPBChessboard.renderFEN($(selector), {\"position\":\"rnbqkb1r\\\/pp2pp1p\\\/3p1np1\\\/8\\\/3NP3\\\/2N5\\\/PPP2PPP\\\/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 6\",\"squareSize\":32,\"coordinateVisible\":true,\"turnVisible\":true,\"colorset\":\"original\",\"pieceset\":\"cburnett\"});\n        });\n    <\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"rpbchessboard-spacerAfter\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in those days, before the Internet became the beast it is today, we followed the live transmission of moves from World Championships via CEEFAX, and some viewers were convinced 5\u2026g6 had been a mistake in the relaying of the moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dragon is steeped in history. Some elite players strive to build it up (Botvinnik and Kasparov, as already mentioned, for example) and others seek to tear it down (Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov spring instantly to mind). Yet it keeps bouncing back and gaining new fans and the literature on this great opening continues to grow too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest tome,\u00a0<strong>Dragon Masters: Volume 1<\/strong>\u00a0by Andrew Burnett, is an essential addition to anyone\u2019s collection, whether Dragon players or slayers.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"480\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Book-Covers-78.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3858\" style=\"width:274px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-layout-1 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/product\/dragon-masters-volume1><\/iframe>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are some chess openings \u2013 such as the Grob and the Black Lion &#8211;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3855"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4046,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3855\/revisions\/4046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forwardchess.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}