Anyone play this? Seems like an ideal opening for me to learn to sharpen my tactics and counterattack.

All the preperation one has to have these days to play 1. ... e5 is overwhelming. Plus the dragon seems to better suit my style.

What is a good similar defense against 1. d4?

Thanks!! Know I'm starting alot of opening threads lately but I realize I barely know more than 4 or 5 moves deep in any opening (except two knights & guicco piano) after playing about eight years. I think it's time I stopping hacking around with many and focused on a few main ones (Sicilian for black and variations stemming from e4 (against Sicilian 2. c3, against French, Nc3 I'm thinking now, against e5, actually not so sure anymore, I haven't playing the Lopez is years but maybe it's stronger than 3. Bc4, way too complex though, I think I'll stick with Bc4, besides that and the Scotch what else is there?). Anyway, thanks again.

I know some people who like to play the King's Indian against 1. d4 in combination with the Acc. Dragon. I have close to no experience with either.

The Sicilian you say? Well, prepare for a rough ride! It requires years of experience before you even begin to understand it (generally). If you get a feel for it though, it's an absolutely great defense regardless of what (main) line you choose.
The Alapin (c3-) Sicilian is a fine system against the Sicilian, but recently, black players have been booking up on that.
I would recommend 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 Bxe7 in the Classical French and 4. e5 c5 5. Bd2 in the Winawer.
The Ruy Lopez is definitely stronger than 3. Bc4, but a little more difficult as well. (I do hope you don't play the awful 4. Ng5 as white against the Two Knights)
There is the Scotch, Vienna, Bishop Opening, King's Gambit to name a few. I would either decline the latter with 2. ... Bc5 or use this variation in the Falkbeer 2. ... d5 3. exd5 c6.

Yeah, I would definitely recommend the Dragon. The regular Dragon may be even better, as you're less likely to get into the more positional Maroczy Bind position:

1e4 c5 2Nf3 Nc6 3d4 cxd4 4Nxd4 g6 5 c4, where white locks down the center and black has to slowly pressure the queenside. Interestingly, I play the Benko/KID and a lot of times I'll transpose into a position similar to this.

The other thing to worry about is 1e4 c5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5, which is a solid opening against the Nc6 lines, but not as strong as it is against 2...d6, where black simply replies 3Bd7.

Of course, you are able to avoid a few lines by playing the Accelerated Dragon like the Yugoslav Attack and so on, but those create some of the most interesting games in my opinion. Once again though, to each their own.

Got to level with you. Those seems like diametrically opposed comments.

The accelerated dragon is not the dragon. It tends to be more positional, much less wild-and-wooly than the dragon itself. If you like open, crazy, counterattacking positions and like the dragon, then play the dragon, not the accelerated dragon.

The primary difference between the dragon and the accelerated dragon is that the later allows the Marcozy Bind, while the former allows the Yugoslav attack. Obviously, there are some other differences, too, but that's the main one.

The problem, however is, your comment that meeting 1.e4 with ...e5 requires too much preparation. To which all I can say is:

If you want to play the sicilian, you're in for a world of hurt. The amount of memorization and preparation required for the sicilian is tremendous. It is much greater than what you have to face to play 1. ... e5.

The Yugoslav is probably one of the 2-3 most theory-intensive openings in all of chess. Now, granted, the acc. dragon has less theory, but, again, you're not getting that famous dragon counterplay either. At a high level, many people think that white can force a draw pretty easily with the acc dragon (and nobody's ever said that about the dragon proper).

Furthermore, white's variety of reasonable move two - and three - variations is just as numerous as they are for 1. ... e5. You've got the closed sicilian, the c3, the smith-morra, the wing gambit, the grand prix attack, and the 3.Bb5/Bb5+ systems.

Some of that stuff is theoretically rock-solid and some of it isn't, but even some of the stuff that isn't gives white a tremendous attack against a player without very strong defensive skills.

None of this means "don't play the sicilian" but if you're goal is to get away from required opening preparation, well, the sicilian is not the opening for you.

Well, the Sicilian has less to study that say the Ruy Lopez I think, and I tend to find (closed) Lopez positions kind of dull.

I like 2. ... Nc6 better than d6 because it develops a piece. I'm sure I'll have lots to study, I just watched a video on a game where black beat the Marcozy Bind. I guess my real issue is I like Sicilian positions better than Lopez or two knights positions (I like the two knights as white though I often lose).

That depends alot on the variation you play. The Najdorf is more theoretical than the Exchange Ruy, but the Marshall Attack is probably more theoretical than the Closed Sicilian... The Najdorf, Sveshnikov, Classical, Dragon, Scheveningen etc. are all pretty big on theory as well.

the accelerated dragon, or in my case, i play the hyper accelerated to avoid rossolimo lines is a really good opening imo. Far easier to play and gets good games. The normal dragon which i have played in past isint as easy to take out weaker oponents. With hyper accelerated, if white just plays a Yugoslav type of set up he can end up in a bad position quite quick, simply losing his e4pawn. I had the same experience playing Najdorf, weaker opponents always just seem to play a Yugoslav attack type set up against any sicilian line, and with Dragon and Najdorf, it can lead to a longish battle. Accelerated line avoids all this nonsense play by weaker players and takes them out far quicker. Aswell with stronger opponents, you will tend to end up in a Maroczy bind but over the years the bind has lost its dominating grip to be honest, black has nothing to fear imo.
Unfortunatly, the hyper accelerated dragon leaves open the line where Qxd4 is played rather than Nxd4 (as given in NCO) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd 4.Qxd4, but lucky for me i have pretty detailed defenses against this

Against 1.d4 i recommend ''abort'' if after ...Nf6 2.Nf3 (just kidding)

That's absolutely not true. With the exception of the Marshall attack, the Lopez isn't really a theory-criticial opening at he class level. The sicillian, on the other hand, will, more consistently than any other opening, put you in critical positions where to survive you have to find an only move.

The advantage of the sicilian is that if you find those only moves, you'll likely emerge with lots of counterplay.

I think a lot of people do. I happen to play the open ruy, for just that reason.

If you're cool w/ playing against the Bind then go for it. I've actually had good results overall going against it. But if you really want a chance to excercise your tactical play, then I'd suggest the straight up regular Dragon:

1e4 c5 2Nf3 d6 3d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6

I've had a ton of great games in this line (from both sides actually), and the beauty is that the stronger player will usually win. Can't argue w/ that.

Hello graw81, would you mind explaining a line of the accelerated dragon w/ Qxd4? I have been playing around with it, but after 4...Nf6 5.e5 Nc6 6.Qa4 it seems that black's knight of f3 will have some trouble finding a good square.

You really seem to know what your talking about, so any feedback is good!

Thx

Johnny