Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Chinese Dragon

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8

The Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Chinese Dragon is a chess opening classified as ECO B78, reached after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 25 times by this move order. White won 52%, 4% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 11. h4 (32% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.34 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 11. Bb3 Na5 12. h4 b5 13. h5 Nc4)

ECO: B78
Moves: 20 plies
FEN: 1r1q1rk1/pp1bppbp/2np1np1/8/2BNP3/2N1BP2/PPPQ2PP/2KR3R w - - 7 11
PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rb8

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
1500-1999	6	67%33%
2000+	19	47%47%
All	25	52%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
11. h4	8 (32%)	50%50%
11. Bb3	7 (28%)	86%14%
11. g4	3 (12%)	33%67%
11. Kb1	3 (12%)	33%67%
11. Nxc6	2 (8%)	50%50%
11. Bh6	1 (4%)	100%
11. Nd5	1 (4%)	100%

Master games

177 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 21%, Black 37%). The strongest:

GM Ray Robson (2667) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2746) 0-1 · 63rd ch-USA 2019 · 2019-03-29
GM Mikhail Al. Antipov (2607) – GM Viktor Gazik (2567) 1/2-1/2 · 33rd North American Open · 2023-12-28
GM Kirill Alekseenko (2609) – GM Nikola Djukic (2523) 1-0 · 19th ch-EUR Indiv 2018 · 2018-03-24
GM Ante Brkic (2590) – GM Nikola Djukic (2523) 0-1 · 19th ch-EUR Indiv 2018 · 2018-03-26
GM Alexei Shirov (2651) – FM Xu, X. (2424) 1-0 · GRENKE Chess Open 2018 · 2018-04-01

Search all games of the Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Chinese Dragon and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

CM alesha_kiselev (2476) – RGT2635 (2319) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
DeferredE5 (2306) – Lukii20 (2309) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Trigonias (2305) – Testaccount1959 (2268) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s

Comes from

Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack (9… Bd7 10. O-O-O) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O

More Sicilian Defense lines (all)

Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.