Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Panov Variation

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. g4

The Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack, Panov Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B76, 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. g4. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 163 times by this move order. White won 54%, 8% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 9… Nxd4 (22% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 9… Be6 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Be2)

ECO: B76
Moves: 17 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/pp2ppbp/2np1np1/8/3NP1P1/2N1BP2/PPPQ3P/R3KB1R b KQ - 0 9
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. g4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1	100%
1500-1999	33	48%48%
2000+	129	55%36%
All	163	54%38%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
9… Nxd4	36 (22%)	56%36%
9… Be6	36 (22%)	53%39%
9… Bd7	23 (14%)	52%39%
9… Bxg4	19 (12%)	47%47%
9… h5	13 (8%)	54%38%
9… d5	13 (8%)	69%31%
9… Ne5	8 (5%)	50%25%25%
9… a6	6 (4%)	50%50%

Master games

911 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 51%, draw 18%, Black 31%). The strongest:

GM Sergey Karjakin (2753) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2799) 1/2-1/2 · KM FIDE GP 2015 · 2015-05-14
GM Levon Aronian (2736) – GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2734) 1-0 · WR Chess Masters 2023 · 2023-02-18
GM Yangyi Yu (2729) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2701) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Div 2 L · 2023-04-03
GM Hao Wang (2730) – GM A.R. Saleh Salem (2591) 1-0 · 21st Abu Dhabi Masters 2014 · 2014-08-26
GM Kurnosov, I. (2645) – GM Jakov Geller (2559) 1/2-1/2 · VIII Governor's Cup · 2012-11-23

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

sunchess137 (2635) – notkevich (2686) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
sunchess137 (2655) – contrapunctus_XI (2650) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
sunchess137 (2667) – contrapunctus_XI (2638) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Sicilian Defense: Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack (8. Qd2 Nc6) 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

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.