B27

Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon 2…g6 3. d4

Chess diagram: Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon after 3. d4

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Statistics from Lichess

5,778,600 games: White 46.7% / Draw 5.4% / Black 48.0%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	5,105,1045.1M
Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Pterodactyl	599,448599K
	23,77924K
	18,17018K
	9,3799,379
	7,3477,347
	6,6696,669
	1,9511,951

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 31, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.44 White is slightly better

Best play: 3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nb3 Qd8 8. Qd2

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

Rating changes little here: White scores 51% both under 1400 and at 2200 and up, and 56% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	496K
1400–1799	2.2M
1800–2199	3.5M
2200 and up	810K
Masters, over the board	7,070

Master games

Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026

Overview

Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon (ECO B27, Semi-Open Games) is a variation of the Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon, reached after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. d4 (3 moves).

In 5,778,600 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.7%, Black 48.0% and 5.4% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 3…cxd4, in 88% of those games.

It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Pterodactyl and Sicilian Defense: Frederico Variation. In all, 11 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to answer 3. d4

The most played answer, 3…cxd4, also scores best for Black: 50.9%, with Black winning 48.2% and White 46.3% of 5.1M games. Of the main answers, 3…Bg7 scores lowest: 49.4%. Stockfish's first choice is also 3…cxd4.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

This line peaked in 2018 at 0.31% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.19% in 2025.

0.21%0.19%0.31%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.21%	75,204
2017	0.26%	142,568
2018	0.31%	247,275
2019	0.3%	372,793
2020	0.29%	836,182
2021	0.24%	953,931
2022	0.21%	785,592
2023	0.19%	720,036
2024	0.19%	687,348
2025	0.19%	664,127
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.19%	211,984

Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling

Variations (3)

All 11 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Sicilian Defense: Hyperaccelerated Dragon (B27)”. Lichess data as of 31 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/sicilian-defense-hyperaccelerated-dragon-2