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As Black, my main weapon against 1.e4 has always been the ACCELERATED DRAGON. I learned this opening from Larry Christiansen when we were kids and, though I used the CARO-KANN from time to time, have never abandoned it.

R Kelson - Silman
Reno, 1993
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng8 9.f4 Nh6 10.Qf3 0-0 11.0-0-0 d6!

(Black offers a pawn or two for rapid development and a nice initiative. In this kind of situation, such a move doesn't need to be deeply calculated; it's either good or the position was poor in the first place.) 12.Qxc6 Bd7 13.Qd5 Ng4 14.Qf3 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Be6 16.Nd5 Rc8 17.Ba6? (A serious mistake. He should have tried 17.c3.) 17...Rc5! 18.c4 (At first 18.Nxe7+ Qxe7 19.exd6 looks tempting since both the Queen and the c5-Rook are hanging. However, Black wins by force after 19...Bxb2+! 20.Kxg2 Rb8+ 21.Kc1 Rxc2! 22.Kxc2 Bf5+ 23.Qd3 Qxd6! 24.Qxf5 Qc6+.) 18...Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Rxd5 20.cxd5 Qa5 (White's game now implodes with remarkable rapidity.) 21.Bc4 Rc8 22.b3 Qxa2 23.Re1 dxe5 24.fxe5 Bh6! 25.Qxh6 Qxb3 26.Re4 Rxc4+ 27.Rxc4 Qxc4+ 28.Kb1 Qe4+ 29.Kc1 Qxd5 30.Qe3 Qxg2 31.Qxa7 Qh1+, 0-1. Black also wins the last two White pawns.

J Frankle-Silman
Bagby Memorial, 1982
1.Nc3 (A Frankle specialty.) 1...d5 2.e4 c6! (I've tricked him! We're now in a Caro-Kann.) 3.d3 (A strange decision from an aggressive player like Frankle, no doubt due to a fear that I was more familiar with the Caro-Kann than he was. He should play 3.d4 or 3.Nf3.) 3...dxe4 4.dxe4 Qxd1+ 5.Nxd1 Nf6 6.f3 e5 7.Bc4 b5 8.Bb3 Nbd7 9.Ne2 Nc5 10.Be3 a5 11.Bxc5 Bxc5 (The two Bishops are important in this position, and ensure me a long lasting, risk free advantage.) 12.a4 Ke7 13.Nec3 b4 14.Nb1 Nd7 (This Knight is heading for c5 where it will go after White's other Bishop.) 15.Nd2 Bd4 16.Rc1 Nc5 17.Ra1 Nxb3 18.cxb3 Be6 19.Rc1 Rhd8?! (A bit overzealous. I should have shown more patience by 19...Ra6 followed by 20...Rd8.) 20.Nc4? (White should chop off the c-pawn and hope for the best: 20.Rxc6 Rdc8 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 when Black will penetrate down the c-file and retain all the winning chances, but White would retain real chances to split the point.) 20...Bxc4 21.Rxc4 Rd6 (Now it's all over.) 22.Ke2 Rad8 23.Re1 Ba7 24.Rc2 Rd3 25.Nf2 Rxb3 26.Rd1 Bxf2 27.Rxd8 Kxd8 28.Kxf2 Kc7 29.Ke2 Kb6 30.Rd2 c5 31.Kd1 c4 32.Kc1 Re3 33.Rd7 Re1+ 34.Kd2 Rg1 35.g4 b3 36.Rxf7 Rb1 37.Re7 Rxb2+ 38.Kd1 c3 39.Rxe5 Rb1+ 40.Ke2 c2, 0-1.

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