Sicilian Defense:Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack

White castles long and storms Black’s king with h4 and h5: the sharpest test of the Dragon.

It is reached after 14 moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense.

White is to move and has 44 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 2,087,121 different games. Those games reach 653,232 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.2 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 16 further lines after this position.

The same moves can be played in 13,080 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. e4 c5 2. d4 d6 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O, which starts as the Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit.