Is the alapin or 3.d4 better in the hyper-accelerated dragon?

I think the best line against the hyper-accelerated dragon is to play the maroczy, so 3.d4 but i might be wrong :)

@loo7841 said in #1:
> Can someone advice me whether 3.c3 or 3.d4 is better to play against the hyper-accelerated dragon?I found it annoying without any opening repertoire and keep losing :/
> It is like this 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 or 3. d4 better?
> Thanks in advance.

Why not play d4 on move 2? This is known as the Smith Morra Gambit. Try this or an anti-Scilian.

I'm honestly not sure if "better" is the right question - both are eminently playable, but you end up with very different types of position. I can say as a player of the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon the main lines don't bother me, but c3 does :)

Really, it depends on your playing style and which kinds of positions suit you most.

Who here plays the hyper-accelerated dragon?Do you hate 3.d4 or 3.c3 more?This may be the easy way to get a correct answer :)

c3 is simpler to play, Maroczy is eternally unpleasant though.

with 3.d4 leading to maroczy bind positions, you are aiming to get a small but persistent advantage (and the middlegames all look very similar structurally), and the alapin gives you more flexibility in how the game proceeds as black and white both have a number of branches and there are various tries for an advantage

@joddle said in #16:
> with 3.d4 leading to maroczy bind positions, you are aiming to get a small but persistent advantage (and the middlegames all look very similar structurally), and the alapin gives you more flexibility in how the game proceeds as black and white both have a number of branches and there are various tries for an advantage
whoa "brances and various tries",I guess I will go for the Maroczy cus my memory isn't that nice LOL