Sicilian Defense:Dragon Variation

Named in 1901 by Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky, an amateur astronomer who saw the constellation Draco in Black’s pawns. Black fianchettoes the bishop to g7, and races of attacks on opposite wings are common.

It is reached after 10 moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6. It is a line of the Sicilian Defense.

White is to move and has 43 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,795,344 different games. Those games reach 576,302 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.1 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 39 further lines after this position, such as Classical Variation (6. Be2) and Levenfish Variation (6. f4).

The same moves can be played in 936 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6, which starts as the Zukertort Opening.