Sicilian Defence Najdorf Variation

Depends on your opponent style and mood. For the moment:. Najdorf (sharpest but only for dedicated players, as it is a whole way of life in itself). Taimanov (safest and very good harvesting win schemes for the positional player, my best bet).
The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most respected and deeply studied of all chess openings. Modern Chess Openings calls it the 'Cadillac' or 'Rolls Royce' of chess openings. The opening is named after the Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf.
The MAXIMSCHOOL chess school presents the application dedicated to the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defense with black pieces. The free version contains 30 interesting puzzles on combinations with victory, achieving advantage, winning pieces and checkmating in several moves.

The Najdorf Variation. E4 c5; Nf3 d6; d4 c x d4; N x d4 Nf6; Nc3 a6; By far, Black’s favorite variation when deploying the Sicilian Defense is the Najdorf Variation as you can see this is a 5-move variant which ends with a6. The idea is to prepare the space in the center for black’s domination. The Najdorf Sicilian. It is the move 5 a6 which distinguishes this variation from others in the Sicilian family (5 g6, for example, is the Sicilian Dragon.) Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov are the two World Champions most strongly associated with the Sicilian Najdorf. The variation is named after Miguel Najdorf (1910-1997).

I decided to test out a fun opening in the Sicilian Najdorf to come up with some main ideas. The sideline is called the Polugaevsky variation.

I played a best of 5 with my friend Andres who is a 2150 USCF and has played this line before.

Going into these games, I had only had two games where my opponent accepted my sacrifice. So I was going in blind. [spoiler alert] I was lucky to win the first game but got smoked the next three.

I also have two Polugaevsky games by great players, Peter Leko and Hikaru Nakamura, at the end of this article.

Before looking at the games, let’s look at how the Polugaevsky starts.

How Does the Najdorf Polugaevsky Variation Start

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

B96 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Polugaevsky Variation

7…b5 signifies the Polugaevsky variation.

The point of 7. f4 was to put pressure on the e5 square and immediately threaten 8. e5.

This is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Najdorf. What black usually does is:

Begins the Poisoned Pawn variation with Qb6
Blocks the pin with Be7
Prevents e5 with Nbd7 (also allowing the queen to move without doubling the pawns if the bishop on g5 takes the knight.

All of these ideas are ignored with the Polugaevsky, which begins right away to go with the eventual plan of Bb7 taking control of the long diagonal.

That begs the question, is black giving up a piece with b5?

There is a sharp tactical line after:

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2

The queen has managed to take back the bishop on g5 and activate the queen.

What black gives up in this variation is development, but it turns into a super sharp line that’s very fun to play.

Here are a few games where I learned the main ideas of both sides.

Games Played with Angres (Dres)

For all of these games, we each agreed to play the same line as white and as black, up to move 8, where we wanted to see where things took a turn.

Each of these games were played with 5 minutes and no increment so plenty of these decisions had to come quick.

Game 1: Dres v Ragnarok

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

Black is welcoming e5, which white is threatening after f4. b5 is a move that black often will play anyway because of the pawn on e6 blocks the light squared bishop.

The point is that black will recapture the pawn on e5 with the d pawn, then Qe6, winning back the bishop.

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2

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White is clearly ahead in development, but black is not without compensation. The bishops have activity on the open diagonal, and the knight will soon be pinned after Bc5.

At least, that was my first idea.

11… Qxg5 12. O-O Bc5?

My first mistake when practicing. Ra7 was best.The bishop will do well on this diagonal, but first the rook needs to come into play via a7-d7. However, I don’t know why until after I play this game.

12… Ra7 13. Qd3 is best

13. Qd3??

My opponent may have thought I’d play the book move, Ra7, which is why this blunder occurred.

13… Bb7

Seizing the open diagonals with a lot of pressure. My goal is to threaten checkmate and keep pressure.

14. Ne4 Bxe4??

Definitely a blunder and now I’m behind. Best was to play Qd5 and put two attackers on the pinned knight on d4. The knight on e4 is also pinned because of the threat of checkmate on g2.

Now that my rook is under attack, I decide to trade queens to keep the game relatively even. I didn’t think my rook belonged on a7. This turns out to have been the right decision.

The next series of moves center around the pinned knight on d4 and how I try to put more pressure on it. White doesn’t have time to move the king to h1 just yet.

15. Qxe4 Qd5 16. Qxd5 exd5 17. Rad1 Nc6 18. c3?!

The rest of the game is not instructional for the opening, but shows the ideas that can occur. I was able to win the game with a tactical maneuver.

18… O-O 19. fxg7 Kxg7

Black has a weak central pawn on d5, but the pressure on the pinned knight will give black activity with the knight.

Here is the game if you’d like to see the rest. This was the only game I won in a best of four.

Game 2 Ragnarok v Dres

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7

The main idea for black is gain activity for the rook by pinning the knight to the queen.

Sure, black continues to delay development, but there is no good place for the minor pieces to develop yet.

This game shows how quickly the rook becomes an issue for white if not taken care of. }

13. Bf3

Already not realizing what’s happening. 13. Qd3 was best as mentioned in the previous game.

13… Rd7 14. Qd3

Attempting to get both rooks on the d and e files. However, this fails terribly by the next move.

14… Rxd4 15. Qxd4 Bc5

Other Ideas I could Have Tried Instead

(14. Rf2 e5

Pushing the pawn is preemptive as white doesn’t lose a piece like it originally looks,

15. Bd5 exd4 16. Qxd4 Bb7 17. Re1+)

If black takes the knight, then white is actually way ahead. The king is very exposed and check with Qb6 is coming if black doesn’t immediately give up a piece.

If black decides not the push the pawn and instead brings the queen back to e5, the position is more solid. Black should just develop

(14… Qe5 15. Nce2 gxf6 16. c3 16… Bh6)

Here’s the full game

Game 3 Dres v Ragnarok

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qd5

The best idea is to play Qe5 and keep the pin on the queen. White needs to respond by protecting the knight

15. Rad1 Bb7 16. Bf3 (16. Qg3 Bc5) 16… Qxd4+ 17. Qxd4 Rxd4 18. Rxd4

The idea was to pin the rook and get the piece back, but I missed that the rook can take the bishop on e4 right away and sidestep the pin.

Bxe4 19. Rxe4 gxf6 20. Bh5 Bc5+ 21. Kh1 Ke7 22. a4 b4 23. Rc4 Nd7 24. Rd1 Bd6 25. Rcd4

There’s nothing left to do and another piece will fall

Black resigns.

1-0

Here’s the full game

Game 4 Dres v Ragnarok

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Bc5

Showing how sharp the game is. The engine already puts this game at +2.3 for white. Black needs to play the Ra7-d7 idea to maintain equality.

13. Kh1 Bb7

Looks good in my book. Bishops dominating the long diagonals. But white is +7.8 right now.

14. Bf3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ra7 16. Ne4 Qe5 17. fxg7 Qxg7

+10 for white. Find the winning solution. Black’s pieces are just uncoordinated.

18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Qh5+

Black resigns.
1-0

19… Kd8 20. Qxc5

White’s king is so exposed that the game is virtually over.

Here’s the full game

Wang, Hao (2739) – Nakamura, Hikaru (2778) Ra7 Idea

Let’s look at some Grandmaster level games and see what they do in this type of situation.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qe5

Black is trying to put pressure on the knight. White will respond with c3 if nothing is done. White opts in this game to counterattack the queen with Nf3.

15. Nf3

15… Qc7 16. Qe3

Both queens getting out of the way of the attack.

16… Bb7 17. Nfg5 h6 18. Qh3

18… g6

g6 helps keep the f6 pawn fixed and maintains the structure of black’s pawns. The white pawn can be hard to maintain in an end game if pieces are traded off.

19. Bd3 Nc6 20. Kh1

20. Nxf7 Rxf7 21. Qxe6+ Kd8 22. Rad1

Getting two pawns for the piece and more activity is a possibility.

The rest of the game is not relevant to this article, but I have it below if you’d like to continue to see how it ends.

Here’s the full game

Leko, Peter (2739) – Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan (2513)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5

8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qe5 15. Nf3 Qxb2

Taking the pawn this time. White gains a small advantage. In general, when you’re behind in development, you should recoordinate your forces.

16. Qe3 Bb7 17. a4 b4

Qf4, keeping the pressure on the black pieces makes the most sense as a continuation. The dark squared bishop struggles to move after b4. This leaves the black king in the center which would be terrible for black.

White opts to attack the queen instead

18. Rab1 18… Qxc2 19. Nfg5 Qc7 20. Rxb4 Bxe4

21. Nxe4 Bxb4 22. fxg7 Rg8 23. Nf6+

There are a lot of weaknesses in black’s camp if the pawn is not dealt with efficiently.

23… Kd8 24. Nxg8 Bc5

Even the loss of a queen is not the biggest threat as the white pawn has reached the 7th and cannot be stopped.

25. Nf6 Bxe3+ 26. Kh1 Kc8

Black has to stop the threats of checkmate after g8=Q# that is incoming so the rook cannot be saved.

Black resigns.

1-0

Here’s the full game

I hope you enjoyed this article. This is a fun opening to try out if you’re having trouble playing against white with the Sicilian Najdorf, or if you just want something in your arsenal to catch your opponent off guard.

What is the Najdorf Variation?

The Najdorf Variation is one of the mainlines in the Sicilian Defence.

It is used as black against 1.e4 (King Pawn Opening).

The starting position of the Najdorf Variationbegins at move 5.

ECO code B90-99 Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation General

Today's article I have in store for you is going to be a little different than my normal ones!

I love to go step by step showing why each move is played in lines!

I like to give the reason behind the moves so to speak.

In this case, I have already done most of that in another article.

If you have not read the other article I wrote.

Click HERE

In the other article I talked about the idea's behind the moves from move 1 to 5.

However, I left off on black's 5th move!

In today's article I will be continuing were I left off.

The good news is today's article is going to be short!

Outline for this article

- I will share pictures and history on who made the Najdorf Variation

- I will talk about the idea behind the move 5...a6

- I will give the names and 6th moves to the top 10 lines which are played against the Najdorf.

Today article will be fun!

Who made the Najdorf Variation in the Sicilian Defence?

Miguel Najdorf

Look at that he is smiling in the picture.

It is as if he wanted us to talk about him today!

Miguel Najdorf was a Polish-Argentine Chess Grand Master.

Miguel Najdorf was born on April 15, 1910.

Miguel Najdorf sadly died on July 4, 1997.

Even though he is dead his spirit and contributions in chess live on!

Miguel Najdorf is responsible for one of the greatest lines in chess.

People have called the Sicilian Najdorf Variation the Cadillac of Chess Openings!

It strikes fear into the heart of chess players!

What is the move which strikes fear into the hearts of chess players?

The little pawn move a6!!!

Lets talk about the move 5...a6.

What does the move do?

Believe it or not the move a6 is a waiting move!

It is funny because I have had heated debates over people telling me I was crazy lol.

Yeah they disagreed with me until their face turned blue.

They didn't even stop agruing to even take a breathe.

It is actually very curious because the move a6 does have some functions, but many of them are not ment to be done right away!

The move a6 does help prepare a queen side expansion with the move b5.

The move a6 does help control the b5 square so white can't jump a piece to b5.

However, when you really think about it are these functions I am listing in green text going to happen next move? At like move 6 for example?

Well the truth is no!

For a long time no one could refute my statement that the move 5...a6 was a waiting move.

However, one day a person came close!

Some believe he even did refute my claim.

I always like telling this story because I think it helps people understand better.

The person who shared his view point to me was a International Master.

The IM brought to the table another view point no one ever did before.

Guess what he said?

The IM said 'The move 5...a6 is a preparation move.'

After the IM said the above statement I was thinking in my mind Oh gosh not another b5 queen side preparation conversation again lol.

I was like completely dreading it!

Than the funniest thing happen.

The IM said ' The move is preparing e5.'

Than came my response.

My face was exactly like that picture right there with same words.

Accurate representation of events right there!

Preparing e5?

Yep that is what the IM said.

Than the IM started to explain:

' At move 5 black would love to play the move e5 in this position for several different reasons'.

I was like black does?

I never knew that!

No one ever told me black wanted to play the move 5...e5!

I never read it any where either!

This is a conspiracy. Why don't I know about this?

The IM is like yeah put it on your chess board.

'Now look at that position.

The move e5 is hitting the knight on d4 with tempo!

The move e5 is gaining center space!

and to top it off

The move e5 is helping to develop the bishop on f8. Now it has a chance to go to e7 so black can castle.'

I was like you know I never thought about that.

That is a very good point!

Yeah black does want to play e5 here.

Than the IM said ' Yes black wants to play e5. The problem is he can't play the move e5 yet.'

I was like why can't he play e5 at move 5?

The IM said ' Because of the deadly check'.

I was like oooo that sounds bad.

Not any check but a deadly check!

The IM said 'After white does the check no matter how black guards white will end up with some positional advantages.'

I was like yeah that sounds bad.

Positional advantages? Oh man positional chess is hard. It can't be good.

I mean look at that position. This is the check the IM was talking about.

Guess where it is at?

On the b5 square were the a6 pawn defends can you believe that?

Sicilian Defense Najdorf Variation Chess.com

Now look at the problem:

Isn't that amazing?

You see!

Black wants to play e5.

However, black can't play it with out preparation.

Thus, the move 5...a6 helps defend the b5 square which will later allow black the chance to play the move e5.

This whole time I thought it was only a waiting move.

What was I thinking?

It is very complex!

The best metaphor I can give you would be like an executioner sharping his axe before delivering the killer blow!

When an executioner sharpens his axe he is waiting; however, he is not really waiting!

When he is done sharpening; Your done!

Well good for you!

I knew the metaphor would help.

The move a6 helps prepare the move e5 and 80% of the time black does follow through with the move e5.

The only time black doesn't follow through with the move e5 is if it is more beneficial to black to keep the pawn on e6 instead of e5.

Which brings us to white's 6th move!

The below set of moves are the top 10 moves played against the Najdorf as of 2016!

The moves 6.Bg5 and 6.Bc4 are the only 2 moves were it is not recommended for black to play the pawn push e5.

Usually Najdorf players will play another move at move 6 or they will follow with the pawn push e6 instead.

Against the other 8 moves black can be very flexible.

Black can follow through with the pawn push e5 if they chose too.

Black can play the pawn push e6.

The point to keep in mind is against 6.Bg5 and 6.Bc4 you do not want to play e5.

Against the other 8 responses you have options of both e5 and e6.

I would explain why. However, it would go way off the topic and outline of this article. To keep this article short we can save that discussion for another day lol.