Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...g6

Black wants to play a Dragon Sicilian set-up, with ...Bg7, ...Nf6, and ...O-O. This is "accelerated" over the conventional Dragon because Black has not played ...d6. They have prioritised developing their pieces and will have saved a tempo if they play ...d5 in one move.

This system specifically defangs the Yugoslav attack, the most punishing attack against the Dragon Sicilian. (Briefly, because it allows Black to play ...d5 one move earlier, opening the position before White has had a chance to long-castle and form a battery on the d-file.) The trade off is it allows White 5. c4, a line the conventional Dragon move order avoids.

5. Nc3 is the Modern variation. As the Yugoslav-style attack (5...Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3!?) is less dangerous in the Accelerated Dragon than the Dragon (7...O-O 8. Qd2 d5!=), the modern line is 7. Bc4.

5. c4, the Maróczy bind, is the most testing line. White's two pawns clamp down on d5, making the ...d5 pawn break difficult or impossible and leading to a more manouvring, positional game.

5. Nxc6 is the Exchange variation. White trades off Black's piece controlling d4 and e5 so that they may play 5...bxc6 6. Qd4! (attacking the rook) Nf6 7. e5. Though it looks flashy, this allows Black to equalise. ...bxc6 helps the light square bishop to develop and supports ...d5.

An early appearance of the Accelerated Dragon was in 1851, where it was played between Hugh Kennedy and Marmaduke Wyvill.^[1] When John Cochrane (1798―1878) played in Calcutta, he encountered many fianchetto openings and faced this opening against Indian chess master Saumchurn Guttack.^[2]

It became popular in the 20th century as a way to play the Dragon Sicilian but avoid its "ultimate test", the Yugoslav attack. The Yugoslav is a dangerous race-to-mate pawn storm attack where White's play is straightforward but lethal: Bobby Fischer described it as,

White's attack almost plays itself ... weak players even beat Grandmasters with it. I once thumbed through several issues of Shakhmatny Bulletin, when the Yugoslav attack was making its debut, and found the ratio was something like nine wins out of ten in White's favor.

—Bobby Fischer, My 60 Memorable Games^[3]

By avoiding 2...d6, Black has saved a a tempo that can be used in the attack. However, they must be prepared to face 5. c4, the Maróczy Bind, instead.

This isn't a coincidence: 5. c4 is an option in the Accelerated Dragon because Black has avoided ...d6.

In the regular Dragon, White must play Nc3 to defend their e4 pawn: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 (Black is attacking e4) 5. Nc3 (defends e4) g6. Because the d6 pawn controls the e5 square, White can't get away with playing pawn to e5.^[4] They must play 5. Nc3 and this prevents c4.

In the Accelerated Dragon, 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 and White can play 5. c4 before Nc3. If Black wants to induce Nc3 they might try to insert ...Nf6 before ...g6, but without ...d6 their lack of control of e5 leads to a worse position: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6? White can trade off the knights and play e5. 6. Nxc5 bxc6 7. e5!±.

Therefore if Black wishes to play the Dragon in a move order that avoids the Yugoslav attack, they must also allow the Maróczy bind.

Today the Accelerated Dragon is one of the most popular Sicilians, considered a good variation for people new to the Sicilian to study that offers the flexibility of the Najdorf without the huge amounts of theory.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6

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Wikipedia has related information at Sicilian Defence, Accelerated Dragon

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.