8/30/2025 – In the newest episode of Monthly Dragon, Chris Ward explores recent games in the Dragon, focusing on the fianchetto system where White plays g3. He analyzes key ideas, such as when White captures on c6 and pushes e5, showing how Black can calmly defend and even gain the upper hand, illustrated through a game where an English IM defeated a GM. Finally, Ward highlights a Magnus Carlsen game in the hyper-accelerated Dragon, where Magnus outmaneuvered his opponent with patient queen shifts, central tactics, and a brilliant finish, proving once again the richness of the Dragon.| Photo: John Upham

8/1/2025 – In this episode, the focus is on typical errors made in Sicilian Dragon games, illustrated through instructive examples from recent tournaments. Chris covers common move-order mistakes, thematic tactics like the exchange sacrifice on c3, and a brilliant underdog win by a 2033-rated player over a 2369-rated opponent using precise Dragon play. The discussion also touches on repertoire-building advice, the importance of playing openings that suit your style, and an amusing anecdote about meeting the young "Vietnamese Dragon" prodigy at the Biel Chess Festival. | Photo: John Upham

6/30/2025 – GM Chris Ward dissects a high-level Dragon game between Hikaru Nakamura and Frederik Svane, showcasing a sharp variation known as the h5 Dragadorf. Alongside detailed tactical motifs - like knight sacrifices, queen traps and pawn breaks - Chris emphasizes how even small imprecisions can lead to brutal consequences in this complex opening. He also revisits viewer questions from the previous episode. The episode is highlighting the Dragadorf's growing strength and teasing the potential for a full ChessBase course on this potent setup. | Photo: John Upham

5/28/2025 – Chris Ward and Arne dive into recent developments in the Dragon and Dragadorf variations of the Sicilian Defence, analysing three instructive games. They focus particularly on hybrid lines like the Dragadorf, where Black mixes ideas from both the Dragon and Najdorf, experimenting with early ...a6 and ...h5 setups. A major highlight is the analysis of a game by a 14-year-old Vietnamese IM, who has become the most prominent adopter of a unique variation still lacking a formal name. The episode is filled with tactical lessons, strategic insights, and humorous commentary, all while inviting viewers to help name the emerging system. | Photo: John Upham

4/29/2025 – GM Chris Ward introduces a fresh and evolving variation in the Sicilian Dragon, humorously dubbed the "Accelerated Dragadorf", which merges dragon setups with thematic ideas from the Najdorf. He analyzes a complex game featuring this system, highlighting tactical motifs, a strong bishop on e5, and a dominant performance by young Vietnamese IM Dau Khuong Duy. The second part covers a clean positional win in a more traditional Dragon, culminating in a delightful rook endgame puzzle, followed by Chris sharing personal insights on his early use of chess engines like Fritz. | Photo: John Upham

3/27/2025 – In this special March edition of the Monthly Dragon, GM Chris Ward takes us on a nostalgic yet deeply instructive journey through two of his own classic games. Rather than focusing solely on cutting-edge theory, Chris highlights the enduring value of tactical motifs, pattern recognition, and sharp attacking ideas — all with the fiery flair of the Dragon! | Photo: John Upham

2/28/2025 – In the main line of the Yugoslav Attack, the ninth move Bc4 is nearly as popular as castling long. While Bd7 remains the most common response, Chris has some excellent alternative suggestions that can give Black an edge. Interestingly, Bc4 recently proved to be a nightmare for co-host Arne Kaehler, as Chris thoroughly enjoyed predicting and countering Arne’s "amateur" plans. | Photo: John Upham

1/17/2025 – It's still the Year of the Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac, but on the 29th of January, it will turn into the Year of the Snake. But for Chris Ward, every year is the Year of the Dragon, and new games continue to show up month by month. In this episode, Chris examines the variation without f3 for White. What are the plans? How should they be countered? The English GM knows it all. | Photo: John Upham

12/13/2024 – The mainline in the Yugoslav attack, is constantly played on a higher level. But what happens, if instead of moving the queen to d2, it goes to e2? Chris Ward says, shows us how to play against this attempt, and gain a good advantage for Black. Furthermore, the English GM has a recent, super entertaining game for us, where two chess legends battle it out - dragon style! | Photo: John Upham

11/12/2024 – Absolute chess superstars occasionally play a Sicilian Dragon in a classic game, and it is rare for these games to win a brilliancy prize. However, some of our readers prefer to see the Dragon in action at the highest level, and have mentioned recent games by Arjun Erigaisi and Ray Robson. Here at ChessBase our Dragon Tamer Chris Ward analyses these games, having previously done so on the chesspublishing.com website. Then, as an extra treat, he shows us a fantastic game by super grandmaster Daniil Dubov! | Photo: John Upham

10/11/2024 – The Olympiad in Budapest is over, and of the 7000+ games, a couple of stunning dragons were on the board. Chris selected the 5 most interesting, and beautiful examples, and analysed them. A sixth game was also added, as a special surprise - Especially for co-host Arne Kaehler ... | Photo: John Upham

8/6/2024 – Chris Ward gathered not one, not two, but three beautiful Dragon examples for us. The key features in this episode are the d5 break, the Rook on the c-file, and the explosive c4 square! In typical fashion, Chris explains his thoughts, plans, ideas and more about the most recent Sicilian games. | Photo: John Upham

7/11/2024 – We all love the dragon for it's attacking play against the king on the queen-side. But how can one attack the king on the king-side? Chris Ward has not only an answer to that, but actually dives deep into the the psychology of king-side attacking, and how to actually get an advantage on the queen-side instead. Furthermore, the example game shows nicely how a material imbalance harmonizes against White. | Photo: John Upham

6/6/2024 – Three wonderful features are presented in the game, which Chris Ward has chosen for us. Interestingly, he found a game, in which "The ChessNerd" streamer Max Weidenhoefer lost against the Sicilian. In this particular game, a variation of the Dragadorf is used, in which the King stays in the centre for quite some time. And that can be excellent, at times! Chris explains it all in the video. | Photo: John Upham

5/19/2024 – The Sicilian Dragon is full of options for White, after the first 8-12 moves have been played. One of them is, to place the Knight on e4. But is this a good idea for White? Chris Ward doesn't think so, and shows us a couple of ideas for Black to deal with this unusual progression. Luckily, a Dragon player is in for some fun because some tactics are rolling in. | Photo: John Upham

4/29/2024 – After the little excursion to plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and how Chris Ward suggested countering them, we got back on track with a real Dragon game. Real? Well, this time, the British GM chose a very positional game, and points out, that it doesn't always have to be a tactical back and forth in this opening. Uncomplicated, straightforward chess is possible!| Photo: John Upham

2/13/2024 – Month by month, we learn how to master, and tame the powerful Dragon, with Dragon expert Chris Ward. But do you know what's really annoying? When nobody wants to accept the Dragon against you! Chris heard all of your cries for help, and made a special episode of the basics, ideas, plans, traps, and more for plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and other openings, which try to dodge our beloved Sicilian Dragon. A "Must Watch" episode for everyone, who experienced something similar. (And we know, you have ...) | Photo: John Upham

1/17/2024 – As everybody knows by now, d5 is perhaps one of the best continuations for Black in the main variation of the Yugoslav attack. But more and more players accept the variation and try to swap off queens on d4 differently, by playing the knight to a4! Finally, a trendy move for White is now to move the g-pawn forward one square!? How to deal with this as a Dragon lover? Chris Ward knows the answer, and it leads to spectacular, beautiful outcomes, of course. | Photo: John Upham

12/4/2023 – In today's episode, the Sicilian Dragon advances to a nail-biting endgame! But not without diving deeper into some other variations, options, plans and ideas. For example, a setup with two rooks, and two bishops, vs. queen, rook and bishop!| Photo: John Upham

11/8/2023 – Chris Ward couldn't resist showing us a wonderful game of Arjun Erigaisi, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi with the Dragon. Apparently, Erigaisi is watching the Monthly Dragon, since he used the advice by Chris, of last month's episode! But the Indian GM used a quite interesting path to keep the game going, which is normally used by club players.| Photo: John Upham

9/27/2023 – The Dragon Master is back with a new episode! We already reviewed the possibility of trapping the white queen in an earlier show. In today's video, Chris points out how important this resource is to gain a strong advantage over White.| Photo: John Upham

8/30/2023 – In the last episode, Chris introduced the Hungarian Dragon. This time, the British GM will continue with some deviations of the popular variation. Beware, the following game is intense! It is definitely worth it to check out the full analysis. | Photo: John Upham

8/14/2023 – One opening variation in the Sicilian Dragon is getting more and more popular. The Hungarian Dragon! A somewhat "safer" Dragon than usual, with a twisty idea to push h5 forward very soon, and avoid all of White's pawn rushes better. Dragon tamer Chris Ward shows us a game, probably inspired by Richard Rapport, where our Dragon bishop causes some havoc on h3, instead of g2!| Photo: John Upham

7/8/2023 – Magnus Carlsen likes to play with, and against the Dragon. Chris Ward found two recent games of the Norwegian GM, and shows us which variation the former World Champion chose to defeat the Sicilian, and how to counter the variation better. Furthermore, we dive into the win of Magnus, and what mistakes his strong opponent made. Remember, all the variations are available on Ward's Fritztrainers! | Photo: John Upham