24 Accelerated Dragons X27 Kev Vern Cae Ga at \ \Y MT DOW Y 4 Ld eB gam AMAM AA yee iy eo AL SB 7 WwW 8S 4 Dxd4 Df6 5 Dc3 g6 6 Re2 2g77 &e3 0-0 8 0-0 Ac6 9 h3 d5 10 exd5 Dxd5 11 Dxd5 Wxd5 12 &£3 Was! with ‘ey as in our main line). With 11...Wa5 Black gets his queen out of harm’s way and dares White to cap- ture on c6. If White tries to win a pawn, Black is confident that he will get lots of compensation in the form of active pieces and pressure against the white pawns. For those players who like to ex- plore relatively new ideas, 11...Wc4!? deserves a serious look: 12 Axc6 bxc6 13.3 (13 Wd3 Re6 14 Wxc4 Rxc4 15 Efd1 Rxb2 16 Habl Rf6 17 Rxc6 Rxa2 18 Rxa8 Lxbl 19 Red 'h-h Deli-Aronin, Moscow Central Chess Club 1962) 13...2e6 14 Hel (14 We2 a5 15 Re2 RES 16 Rxc4 Rxc2 17 Hacl R£5 18 Mfel Hfe8 19 Rc5 e5 20 Bcd] Hab8 21 b4 axb4 22 cxb4 £8 1-'/2 Thomsen-Weemaes, Novi Sad 1990) 14...2fd8 15 We2 Wxe2 16 Bxe2 &d5 17 Hcl a5 18 c4?? (Black had a good game in any case, but this just tosses a pawn away) 18...&xc4 19 Bec2 &d5 20 b3 e5 and Black won in 35 moves in Short-Christiansen, Mon- aco Amber rpd 1993. \ \ Not to be recommended is the pas- sive 11...Wd7, which leads to a supe- rior endgame for White after 12 Axc6 bxc6 13 c3 Bb8 14 Wxd7 &xd7 15 Bfd1 Le6 16 Bd2, Radulov-Firnha- ber, Kiel 1978. 12 Dxc6 Alternatives: 1) 12 &xc6 bxc6 and now: la) 13 Axc6 We7 (already F) 14 Dd4 2a6 15 Hel Mad8 16 We4 Rc8 17 We4 2b7 18 We4 h5 19 Abs We6 20 Wg5 f6 21 Wxg6 WxbS 22 2h6 f7 and Black won in Muller-Don- aldson, Vancouver 1980. 1b) 13 Db3 (trying to make use of the c5-square) 13...We7 14 c3 2a6 (also good is 14...a5 15 Dec5 a4 16 @xa4 Hd8 with the idea of ...2e6 or . SES =/%) 15 Kel Had8 16 We4 Bd5 17 Wa4 2b5 18 Wxa7 Wxa7 19 2xa7 520 Hed1 Ha8 21 Exd5 cxd5 22 &c5 &c4 23 Aci d4 24 b3 Re6 and Black won in a few moves in Casey-Don- aldson, Seattle 1979. 2) 12 Qb3 Wc7 13 c3 RES 14 We2 Had8 15 Bfdl De5 16 Ad4 Rd7 17 Rf4 Dxf3+ 18 Wxf3 e5 19 2g3 Wed 20 We2 b5 21 Wxc4 bxc4 22 Dc2 Reb 23 £3 a5 gave Black a clear advantage in Roll-Donaldson, Philadelphia 1983. 3) 12c3!? (perhaps this is White’s safest move) 12...Dxd4 13 &xd4 Has 14 We2 Rxd4 15 cxd4 e6 16 Bfdl is equal after 16...Wb6 17 d5. Notice that 16...2b8 is strongly answered by 17 We5!. 12...bxe6 13 Wel Accepting the sacrifice with 13 &xc6? Bb8 gives Black too much ac- tivity: 1) 14b4?! was an original idea that came up in Mattern-Silman, North