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Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...d6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...Nf6/5. Nc3/5...a6/6. Be3/6...e5

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< Chess Opening Theory‎ | 1. e4‎ | 1...c5‎ | 2. Nf3‎ | 2...d6‎ | 3. d4‎ | 3...cxd4‎ | 4. Nxd4‎ | 4...Nf6‎ | 5. Nc3‎ | 5...a6‎ | 6. Be3
Najdorf Sicilian, English Attack
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black knightc8 black bishopd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black kingh8 black rook8
7a7 black kingb7 black pawnc7 black kingd7 black kinge7 black kingf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black pawnb6 black kingc6 black kingd6 black pawne6 black kingf6 black knightg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black kingc5 black kingd5 black kinge5 black pawnf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 white knighte4 white pawnf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 black kingc3 white knightd3 black kinge3 white bishopf3 black kingg3 black kingh3 black king3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 black kinge2 black kingf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 black kingc1 black kingd1 white queene1 white kingf1 white bishopg1 black kingh1 white rook1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)

rnbqkb1r/1p3ppp/p2p1n2/4p3/3NP3/2N1B3/PPP2PPP/R2QKB1R w

Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5

Najdorf Sicilian, English Attack

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Moves:1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5

In recent years, the most popular way for white to combat the Najdorf Variation at master level has been 6.Be3. This is called the English Attack, after successful use in the 1980s by English GMs such as Nunn, Short, and Miles.

The idea is nothing new: it has been for over half a century the most popular plan of attack against the Dragon Sicilian. It seems a bit like caveman chess: pawn storm with f2-f3, g2-g4, h2-h4 and crack open the kingside while castling long. Such crude play would seem to be easy to punish, but the statistics have given White no reason to stop playing the system: out of 7,000 master-level games dating from 1956 to 2008, White won 39% (2697 games) and drew 29% (2027 games). This should be good for White, who can expect to win only about 36% of the time and draw only 28% when entering the Najdorf Sicilian.

Black's 6...e5 is the most popular, and the most unbalancing, response to 6.Be3. The pawn thrust drives off the well-placed White knight on d4 to a more passive square. Two active proponents of this idea are World Champion Anand and world #1 Carlsen. Although there is a hole on d5, Black is saying, basically, that it is irrelevant to the play on the wings, while White is saying that Black will be lost if d5 is occupied.

Besides the normal, routine 7.Nb3, White also has the less popular 7.Nf3 and the passive 7.Nde2, which gives Black a good game.

Theory table

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For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5

7 8 9 10
English Attack Nb3
Be6		 f3
Be7		 Qd2
O-O		 O-O-O
Nbd7		 =
Nf3
Be7		 Bc4
O-O		 O-O
Be6		 Qe2
b5		 =
Nde2
Nbd7		 Ng3
Qc7		 Nh5
h6		 a4
b6		 =

When contributing to this Wikibook, please follow the Conventions for organization.

References

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Wikipedia has related information at Sicilian Defence, Najdorf Variation

de Firmian, Nick. Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition. New York, NY: Random House, 2008.

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