Secrets of the Sicilian Dragon Revised

Too many players go through the opening simply by memorizing several moves without understanding why those moves are meaningful.This is an excellent book for understanding the ideas behind one of the most complex and entertaining opening lines available to today's tournament player: you'll not find lengthy (and boring) variations to study and repeat from memory in your games but you'll learn which are the plans that come with the Dragon variation. This is surely the best first step any player should take when learning this (or any other) opening line. Once you know how the opening works, then you'll be able to move to an advanced Dragon book filled up with lines and use it for further study and reference (and then you'll be able to see those lines in a new light and really understand them!).

This book show you positions, ideas and some games. No lines, no variants. If you want to make a deep study get another book.

The Dragon is a excellent counterattacking opening for Black to include in his/her repertoire. However, by focusing EXCLUSIVELY on thematic elements of the Dragon and not including any theory, this book will leave Black players at a disadvantage against opponents who know their opening theory. I strongly recommend Winning with the Sicilian Dragon 2 by Chris Ward because it includes a nice mix of thematic elements along with the theory that is necessary to know when one is playing the Dragon. All in all, a good general overview, but a waste of money.

This book show you positions, ideas and some games. No lines, no variants. If you want to study lines get another book.

The book is great for learning the sicilian dragon! i have read many books about the sicilian but this book let's you in on some neat sacrifices that make your attack stronger. You can't learn the dragon on your own, you need this book, it teaches you the ins and outs of escaping a full on attack as black or white. It's not just a book for when you play the dragon, but when your opponent does also. I have to admit, the book kept me interested unlike other chess books, and it was teaching me about things i would have never considered doing. But the book kind of gets boring and uninteresting after the great escapes section. If you have trouble learning the sicilian or want to play fantastic chess or just want to beat your dad, this book will teach you how to do it.

I bought this book because of one of my constant opponents played the Dragon exclusively (only recently he began to increase his repetoire with Najdorf and other Sicilian.) Overall he got a plus score on me. I also read some games of Fischer beating the Dragon (I feel good), then Sierawan poked fun of the Dragon (feel better), and Karpov killed Korchnoi's Dragon (feel the best). Then Kasparov is successful with the Dragon. Now I have mixed feelings about the Dragon (together with bad experience in the Dragon, I lost many games with either color!!!). I hoped to find a book to improve my score, And this book is not a long term work. It could provide a list of plans to use when you play white or black, but not deep analysis, only good for quick fix when playing speed chess. Buy book from GM writers is better choice, they have their record to back it up. 7.50 USD is OK for this book.

The Sicilian in general (and the Dragon in particular), is known as a sharp tactical opening. So along comes a book which attempts to teach you the general ideas that seem to occur again and again. Instead of endless waves of mind-numbing brilliant tactical moves, the authors present a list of ten concepts that Black should keep in mind throughout the game. I still remember how my eyes lit up during an OTB game when I realized I could sacrifice the exchange on c3 (idea #3).The authors are clearly pro-Dragon, but they do make the effort to present the themes that White should pursue. There is a second list of nine themes for White, one of which (attacking the King along the h-file) has changed the way I approach going after the castled King.Be sure to note that this book, in keeping with its "idea" approach, does not attempt to analyze lots of lines. It presents the concepts and expects you to try them out over the board.

The existing reviews on this book are factually correct, but the low star reviews are unfair. To be fair, this book clearly is not a repertoire book. Unlocking the secrets of the dragon means to give understanding of the opening themes and tactical principles--not to give the latest and hottest line of the dragon that you will (probably) end up forgetting much earlier in the line.In terms of giving you an appreciation and understanding of the opening, wow, this book is really a must-have for anyone who plays the dragon from both the white and black sides. The book is split up into themes for both sides and exemplary games that demonstrate those themes.I have hundreds of chess books, and among the opening-related chess books, this may be the best and most affordable!