The Accelerated Dragon on Your Terms: A Complete Anti-Sicilian Repertoire
Choosing Your Battlefield
Every Sicilian player eventually faces the same question: which sidelines am I willing to meet? The choice of move order often answers it before the real fight begins.
GM Pier Luigi Basso has made his choice. After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3, he plays 2...g6, his preferred route to the Accelerated Dragon. Compared to 2...Nc6, it takes several of White's most annoying lines off the table.
The trade is deliberate. White receives a different, smaller set of options instead, and this course gives Black an answer to every one of them.
The Author's Reasoning
GM Pier Luigi Basso is open about the cost of the move order. By committing to ...g6 so early, Black makes the Alapin with 3.c3 a very critical sideline. The 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 recapture also becomes a serious line that every 2...g6 player must know.
His solution is principled. Against 3.c3, Black strikes with 3...d5!, and from there many interesting lines begin.
The course also has a clear companion. Basso's Accelerated Dragon: Dynamic Sicilian Counterplay covers the Open Sicilian. In the author's words, this course is "the missing piece," and together the two give a complete Sicilian repertoire after 2.Nf3.
What Makes This Course Unique
The course covers every Anti-Sicilian White can choose against 2...g6. You know exactly what to do whenever White avoids the Open Sicilian.
It is also honest about where each line stands today. After 4.Qxd4 Nf6, 5.e5 is still the main move statistically but no longer the most popular approach, while the very solid 5.Nc3 is the choice nowadays. In the Alapin, 6.Na3 is the historical main line, while 6.Nbd2 is the popular and critical modern try.
Nothing is underestimated. 3.Bc4 is more venomous than it looks and gets its own chapter, and even the harmless 3.g3 is covered to round off the repertoire.
Map of Variations
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6
3.d4 cxd4
- 4.c3!? (gambit) → Chapter 1
- 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.e5 (also 5.Bb5) → Chapter 2
- 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 → Chapter 3
3.c3 d5!
- 4.e5 and 4.Bb5+ → Chapter 4
- 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg7
- 6.Be3 and other sidelines → Chapter 5
- 6.Na3 cxd4 7.Nb5 Na6 8.Be3 → Chapter 6
- 6.Na3 cxd4 7.Nb5 Na6 8.Nbxd4 (main position) → Chapter 7
- 6.Nbd2 → Chapter 8
3.Bc4 → Chapter 9
3.g3 → Chapter 10
Course Features
- 10 theoretical chapters
- Video instruction
- To-Go version of every chapter
- Memory File: all 10 chapters condensed into one
- 5 Key Things to Know
- 3 model games
- 30 test positions
- 5 training positions to play against the engine
- Memory Booster
- Multilingual PGN availability (English, German, French, Spanish)
Beyond Move Two
Basso's two courses begin after 2.Nf3, so White's second-move deviations need a separate solution. These include the direct 2.c3 Alapin, the Grand Prix and Closed Sicilian with 2.Nc3, and the Morra Gambit.
GM Arjun Kalyan's Beat the Anti-Sicilians – Top-Level Repertoire for Black covers these second-move sidelines. It has dedicated chapters on the Alapin, the Morra Gambit and the Closed Sicilian.
Start Playing 2...g6 With Confidence
If you want to reach the Accelerated Dragon on your own terms and be ready for every Anti-Sicilian along the way, this repertoire gives you the plan. Get Mastering the 2...g6 Move Order: A Practical Repertoire by GM Pier Luigi Basso today. Pair it with Accelerated Dragon: Dynamic Sicilian Counterplay, and you'll have the Open Sicilian and every White try after 2.Nf3 covered.