Sicilian Dragon: Classical and Levinfish Variations

by David N.L. Levy

THE SICILIAN DRAGON Very good condition, some tanning on backside of dust jacket but book is in excellent condition

Genres: Chess

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Manny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving it 5 stars because I loved it when I read it. It was the first serious book on chess theory I ever properly understood, and it improved my game by at least a couple of hundred ranking points. The Dragon is (or at least used to be) the simplest of openings... White attacks on the Kingside, Black attacks on the Queenside, and may the best man win! Or, in many cases, the man who has studied the theory most attentively. I got to know this opening well enough to catch some quite strong players in lines I had prepared at home.

Now, alas, I can see what a terrible book it was. I don't think the Dragon is very good either - though, if the young superstar Magnus Carlsen plays it, it's evidently not dead yet. I no longer know the theory to any extent worth mentioning, all the judgements have changed. But it was fun being a Dragon expert for a couple of years.

[Cormac Zoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

**see King's Indian Review for discussion of this particular collection of books and my interest in them**

I have both the first edition 1972 and the 1976 edition which has an additional 40 pages of information. I like the Dragon and it's sons, the Accelerated and Hyper-Accelerated ... they are wide open and exciting and it doesn't take more than one or two mistakes to bring your game crashing down around you. That's exciting and I still love purposefully exciting chess even after 40+ years of playing when most players are looking toward the French or Caro-Kann, conservative and closed games that can lead to draws more than wins.

I suppose since my legs, shoulders and back are shot to shit and physical competition is a long gone part of my life, perhaps this is the substitute.