Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation
The Najdorf Variation[1] (/ˈnaɪdɔːrf/) of the Sicilian
Defence is one of the most respected and deeply stud-
ied 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. Many players have lived by the Najdorf
(notably Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, although
Kasparov would often transpose into a Scheveningen).
The Najdorf begins:
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
Black’s 5...a6 aims to deny the b5-square to White’s
knights and light-square bishop while maintaining flexible
development. If Black plays 5...e5?! immediately, then
after 6.Bb5+! Bd7 (or 6...Nbd7 7.Nf5) 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7
8.Nf5 and the knight on f5 is difficult to dislodge without
concessions.
Black’s plan is usually to start a minority attack on the
queenside and exert pressure on White’s e4-pawn. This
is often carried out by means of ...b5, ...Bb7, and placing
a knight on c5, or c4 via b6.
1 Variations
1.1 Main line: 6. Bg5
1.1.1 Classical Main line: 6...e6
Position after 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4
The main move. In the early days of the Najdorf 7.Qf3
was popular, but the reply 7...h6 did not allow White to
obtain any real advantage. Nowadays, White players al-
most universally respond with the move: 7. f4. White
threatens 8. e5 winning a piece, but Black has several
options:
• 7... Be7 8. Qf3 and now:
• 8... Qc7 9. 0-0-0 Nbd7, this is called the old
main line. At this point White usually responds
1
with 10. g4 or 10. Bd3. After each of these
moves there is a huge body of opening theory.
• 8... h6 9. Bh4 g5. This is known as the Ar-
gentine/Goteborg Variation. It was first played
in round 14 of 1955 Goteborg Interzonal si-
multaneously by Argentine players Panno, Pil-
nik and Najdorf who were facing the Soviet
Grandmasters Geller, Spassky and Keres. The
games in question proceeded as follows: 10.
fxg5 Nfd7 Black aims to route a knight to
e5, and then back it up by a knight at d7 or
c6. 11. Nxe6!? (Efim Geller's discovery).
11... fxe6 12. Qh5+ Kf8 13. Bb5 here
Panno played 13...Ne5, while Pilnik and Naj-
dorf chose 13...Kg7. However, all three Ar-
gentine players lost in very short order and
the line was, for a while, considered refuted.
It was only in 1958 that Bobby Fischer in-
troduced the defensive resource 13... Rh7!,
versus Svetozar Gligorić at the Portorož Inter-
zonal, in a critical last-round game. Accord-
ing to modern opening theory this position is
a draw at best for White.
• 7... Qb6 one of the most popular choices at master
level.
• 8. Qd2 the extremely complicated Poisoned
Pawn Variation: 8... Qxb2 9. Rb1 (9.Nb3 is
the other less common option) 9... Qa3 and
here White has played both 10. f5 and 10. e5.
Both lead to extremely sharp play where slight-
est inaccuracy is fatal for either side. Since
2006, when it was played in several high level
games, 10. e5 has become very popular. From
the standpoint of the theory it is regarded as
White’s only attempt to play for a win against
the poisoned pawn variation since all other
variations (and that includes the other pawn
move: 10. f5) have been analysed to a draw
with best play. An example is the game Vallejo
Pons–Kasparov, Moscow 2004,[2] which was
called “a model modern grandmaster draw!"
by Kasparov himself in Revolution in the 70s
(page 164).
• 8. Nb3 White opts for a quiet game, but Black
has nothing to worry about: 8... Be7 9. Qf3
Nbd7 10. 0-0-0 Qc7 where we have reached a
set up very similar to that of the old main line
mentioned above. However, without the d4-
2 1 VARIATIONS

knight White will find it very hard to organise
an attack.
• 7... b5 the ultra-sharp Polugaevsky Variation.[3]
Black ignores White’s threat and expands in Queen-
side. 8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 here White either
plays 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 or 10. Qe2
Nfd7 11. 0-0-0 Bb7. 1.2
• 7. f4/Qe2 g6: Grischuk’s Verbeterde List. An-
other modern way to meet both 7.f4 and 7.Qe2. The
idea is to castle kingside rapidly and then start to
attack with b5–b4, while wasting no time with the
e-pawn.
English Attack: 6.Be3

• 7... Qc7 championed by Garry Kasparov before he Position after 6.Be3

switched to playing 7...Qb6 exclusively.
This has become the modern main line. Since the early
• 7... Nbd7 popularised by Boris Gelfand.
1990s, the English Attack, 6. Be3 followed by f3, g4,
Qd2 and 0-0-0 in some order, has become extremely pop-
• 7... Nc6?! is risky and of a dubious theoretical rep-
ular and has been intensively analysed. Black has three
utation due to the response: 8. e5!
main options:
• 7... h6!? the Poisoned Pawn Deferred. This varia-
tion is very popular at the moment. • The classical 6... e5. After 7. Nb3, Black usually
continues 7... Be6, trying to control the d5-square.
The most common move is then 8. f3, allowing
1.1.2 Verbeterde List: 6...Nbd7 White to play Qd2 next move. If White had tried
to play 8. Qd2, then Black could respond with 8...
Position after 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.Bc4 Ng4. Instead White can play 7.Nf3, in which case
Black’s main choices are 7...Be7 and 7...Qc7.

Historically speaking, this was the usual reply until the • Trying to transpose to the Scheveningen by playing
mid-1960s, when the rejoinder 7.Bc4 put the move “out 6... e6. White can either opt for the standard En-
of business”. Recently however, ideas have been found by glish attack by playing 7. f3 or try the even sharper
some Dutch players who call this variation De Verbeterde Hungarian attack (also known as Perenyi attack) by
List (“The Improved Strategem”). The idea for Black is playing 7. g4.
to postpone ...e6 in order to retain more dynamic options • The knight move: 6... Ng4. White continues with:
(for example, to play e7–e5 in one move). The idea was 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Bg7 but the nature of
tested by Petrosian, Belov, and others, but received pop- this position is quite different from the ones arising
ular attention and developed rapidly after use by Dutch after 6... e6 and 6... e5 so sometimes White tries to
player Lody Kuling in 2007. The most important devel- avoid the knight jump by playing 6. f3 instead of 6.
opments include: Be3. However, aside from eliminating the option to
play the Hungarian attack mentioned above, it gives
• 7. f4 Qc7 8. Qf3: Black other possibilities such as 6... Qb6 and 6...
b5 instead.
• 8... h6 9. Bh4 e5. A setup discovered
by Lody Kuling.(This variation is covered by • The Verbeterde List approach: 6... Nbd7. The idea
Ufuk Tuncer and Twan Burg in New In Chess, of this move is to get into the English attack while
Yearbook 102.) The idea is to gain time over avoiding the Perenyi attack. 7. g4 is less dangerous
...e6 by playing e7–e5 in one move. Later on now because with 6... Nbd7 black is more flexible
it turned out that 9...g5! is even better. as the bishop on c8 can attack g4 now and the knight
on d7 can jump to interesting squares.
• 8... b5 is the Neo Verbeterde List. This is
a new way to play the Verbeterde List. It in-
cludes fianchetting the bishop to b7. (The vari- 1.3 Fischer–Sozin Attack: 6.Bc4
ation is covered by Ufuk Tuncer in New In
Chess, Yearbook 101.) Introduced by Veniamin Sozin in the 1930s, this received
little attention until Fischer regularly adopted it, and it
• 7. Bc4 Qb6 This is a move introduced by Lenier was a frequent guest at the top level through the 1970s.
Dominguez. The idea is to win a tempo by attack- White plays 6. Bc4 with the idea of playing against f7,
ing b2, after which Black can finish his development so Black counters with 6... e6 7. Bb3 b5. The Sozin
beginning 8...e6. The last word on the line has not has become less popular because of 6... e6 7. Bb3 Nbd7
yet been given. The whole variation with 6... Nbd7 where Black intends to follow up with ...Nc5 later. It is
is covered in the book by Ľubomír Ftáčnik in the possible to avoid the Nbd7 option with 7. 0-0, but this
chapter “Blood Diamond”. cuts the aggressive possibility to castle long.

1.4 Classical/Opocensky Variation: 6.Be2
Because of the success of various players with these vari-
ations, White often plays 6. Be2 and goes for a quieter,
more positional game, whereupon Black has the option
of transposing into a Scheveningen Variation by playing
6... e6 or keeping the game in Najdorf lines by playing
6... e5. Another option is to play 6... Nbd7, in the spirit
of The Verbeterde List. It is for this reason that this vari-
ation is called The Verbeterde List Unlimited.
1.5 Amsterdam Variation: 6.f4
6. f4
Some lines include:
6...e5 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.a4 Be7 9.Bd3 0-0
6...Qc7 7.Bd3
6...e6 7.Be2
GM Daniel King recommends 6...g6 against the Amster-
dam Variation, leading to a more defensive kingside pawn
structure. The idea is to eventually counterattack on the
g1-a7 diagonal with a move like Qb6, preventing white
from castling.[4] An example line would be 6...g6 7.Nf3
Bg7 8.a4 Nc6 (note 8...Nc6 as opposed to the usual Naj-
dorf Nbd7, as c6 is a more flexible square for the knight
with a queen on b6) 9.Bd3 Qb6.
1.6 The Adams Attack: 6.h3
Introduced by Weaver Adams during the middle of the
twentieth century, this odd looking pawn move has mostly
been used as a surprise weapon to combat the Najdorf.
Should Black continue with 6...e5 anyway, White can re-
spond with 7.Nde2 following up with g4 and Ng3, fighting
for the weak light squares by playing g5. It is thus recom-
mended that Black prevents g4 altogether with 7...h5.
Black can also employ a Scheveningen setup with 6...e6
followed by 7.g4 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7, forcing White to lose
more time by defending the e4 pawn, since b4 is a threat.
It was not until the early 2008 when an answer to Black
was finally found. After 9.0-0 b4, White has the po-
sitional sacrifice 10.Nd5!, which gives Black long term
weaknesses and an open e-file for White to play on. Since
then, it has been popular on all levels of chess.
1.7 Other sixth moves for White
Beside the main lines mentioned above White has other
options: 6. f3 and 6. g3 are less common, but are also
respected responses to the Najdorf. Moves such as 6. a4,
6. Bd3, 6. a3, 6. Nb3, 6. Rg1 (the Petronic Attack), 6.
3
Qf3, and 6. Qe2 are rarely played, but are not so bad and
may be used for surprise value.
2 See also
• List of chess openings
• List of chess openings named after people
3 References
[1] “Sicilian, Najdorf (B90)". Chess openings. Chess-
games.com. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
[2] “Francisco Vallejo-Pons vs Garry Kasparov (2004)". Re-
trieved 2008-01-19.
[3] “Sicilian, Najdorf (B96)". Chess openings. Chess-
games.com. Retrieved 2008-01-19. (also known as Naj-
dorf, Polugayevsky Variation)
[4] King, Daniel. Power Play 18: The Sicilian Najdorf.
4 Further reading
• O'Kelly de Galway, Albéric (1969). The Sicilian
Flank Game (Najdorf Variation). Batsford. ISBN
9780713403510.
• Geller, Efim; Gligoric, Svetozar; Kavalek, Lubomir;
Spassky, Boris (1976). The Najdorf Variation of the
Sicilian Defense. RHM Press. ISBN 0890580251.
Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
• Stean, Michael (1976). Sicilian, Najdorf. Batsford.
ISBN 0713400986.
• Adams, Jimmy (1977). Main Line Najdorf. The
Chess Player. ISBN 0900928905.
• Adams, Jimmy (1977). Najdorf Poisoned Pawn.
The Chess Player. ISBN 0906042070.
• Adams, Jimmy (1978). Sicilian Najdorf Polu-
gaevsky Variation. The Chess Player. ISBN
0906042097.
• Nunn, John (1999). Complete Najdorf: Modern
Lines. Sterling Pub Co Inc. ISBN 0713482184.
• Kosten, Tony; Gormally, Danny (1999). Easy
Guide to the Najdorf. Everyman Chess. ISBN
1857445295.
• King, Daniel (2002). Winning With the Najdorf.
Sterling Pub Co Inc. ISBN 0713470372.
• Emms, John (2003). Play the Najdorf: Scheveningen
Style. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-323-3.
4 5 EXTERNAL LINKS

• de Firmian, Nick; Fedorowicz, John (2004). The

English Attack. Sterling. ISBN 978-0945806141.
• Sammalvuo, Tapani (2004). The English Attack.
Gambit Publications. ISBN 1-901983-57-9.
• Gallagher, Joe (2006). Starting Out: Sicilian Naj-
dorf. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857443929.
• Palliser, Richard (2007). Starting Out: Sicilian Naj-
dorf. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-601-2.
• Rizzitano, James (2010). Play the Najdorf Sicilian.
Gambit Publications. ISBN 978-1-906454-16-6.
• Ftacnik, Lubomir (2010). The Sicilian Defence.
Quality Chess. ISBN 978-1-906552-08-4.

• Yearbook 101. New In Chess. 2011. ISBN

9056913611.

• Yearbook 102. New In Chess. 2012. ISBN

9056913638.

5 External links
• Najdorf Variation video and analysis
• Najdorf Variation at ChessGames.com

• Sicilian Defense Najdorf Variation, English Attack

(B90) – Openings – Chess.com
 5

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