Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Maróczy Bind

The Maróczy Bind is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4, a way for White to meet the Accelerated Dragon. It is named after the Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy, and the name is used both for this opening and for the pawn structure it creates.

The idea

With pawns on c4 and e4 White controls the d5-square, which makes it hard for Black to free the position with ...d5. Black often settles for the less active ...d6 and may set up a Hedgehog formation against the Bind. The same or a similar structure can arise in many other openings, such as the Kalashnikov Variation with 6.c4, the Kan with 5.c4, and lines of the English Opening and the King's Indian Defense.

History

The first known game with the Bind was Swiderski–Maróczy, Monte Carlo 1904; oddly, Maróczy never played it as White. For several decades allowing it was considered almost a blunder for Black. Modern Chess Openings wrote in 1925 that 2...Nc6 followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7 was now seldom played because of "Maróczy's Attack", and Reuben Fine in 1948 also considered the Bind very strong for White.

From the 1950s it became less feared as Black found new methods against it. Larry Evans wrote in 1965 that White keeps more space but Black's position is fundamentally sound, and that remains the prevailing view. Some recent writers still stress that Black must find active play or risk being slowly strangled: four of the six columns of analysis in the 15th edition of Modern Chess Openings end with an advantage for White.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 48.7% of the 1.4 million games and Black 44.0%. Under 1400 Black leads 50.3% to 46.3%; from 2200 up the results are close, 45.8% for White against 44.1%, with 10.1% drawn. In 10,128 master games over the board White won 36.1%, Black 18.3%, and 45.7% were drawn.