I'm trying to understand the sicilian najdorf a little more and having trouble with a concept.  Is one of the goals for black to make a push with to d5 or e5?  pushing e5 seems to leave a backward pawn on d6 but if you can successfully push d5 you have a solid pawn structure and what appears to be a relatively equal position.

In the below position, Black can either push d5 or e5 successfully, the problem is you still aren't allowing the bishop to develop but if you can get the d5 push in it seems good for black.  Am I wrong?

Never seen a Nadjorf like that, what variation is it?

Thats a Scheveningan structure (could arise from a Najdorf style move order to avoid the Keres) for Black but I'm not really sure what white is playing here..

And the LSB can be developed to b7 after b5 btw...

Can you show a move order or something?

The pure Najdorf is characterized by a d6/e5 structure like so:

Except for Bc4 and Bg5 lines, Black generally plays that d6/e5 structure if he wants to play a Najdorf.

And as for the backward d6 pawn, yes, but you really gotta put faith in that DSB (note the common maneuver ...Bf8 in many games) . The d5 square is the most important. And it is also known that in this structure, knights can be valued more than bishops. Just go through a bunch of master games in the english attack.

 If you can't help, why post.  I'm obviously rated way below you.  Im trying to understand the system.  How the moves were made is not as important to me asunderstanding the key concept.  That's all I want to know about here.  I want to understand the idea behind the e5 push vs. pushing d5 and why e5 is considered better.  Just because my diagram doesn't seem plausible doesn't help.  All I was trying to do was create a position where it was safe to push either e5 or d5 and I wanted to know if their is a situation where d5 would be correct over e5.  Also helping understand why it's ok in this position to leave a backward d pawn.  I don't get it.

 More often then not opinon rules the day. Trust yours , learn from experience and u will win your share of games......g.l  and g. chess

But that entirely depends on the position! And perhaps more so in the Najdorf than in other openings. Your position doesn't look like a Najdorf at all, White pieces are off.

 Move the Knight on e2 to c3 and it's anot far off at all.  If it's up to the position, then base it off the position I gave you.

or you can forget the position and explain why  black chooses to deal with a backward pawn in the Najdorf which is what I asked in the first post.  I should just delete the diagram because people don't seem to get it.  The point is white didn't play the opening correctly, so Black can advance the d5 pawn, if that oppurtunity is given to you, should you use that oppurtunity to play d5.  Is it clear now?

Black chooses to deal with the backward pawn because it turns out not to be much of a problem, and neither can white use the d5 square very effectively. The pawn on e5 stops white's e-pawn from advancing and if it's exchanged for white's pawn on f4, black can put a knight on e5. Those advantages are supposed to be more important than the d-file weaknesses.

Advancing d6-d5 depends on whether White can play e4-e5 with advantage, I think. Often that pawn becomes really annoying. In your diagram that's not an option so ...d5 may well be a good idea for equalizing. On the other hand, ...e5 restricts the d3 bishop.

But I'm not an expert on this opening.

Pushing e5 is a seriously double edged move that weakens d5. As black I push d5, as I've been told its what you should always try to push in the sicilian. To free the LSB, b5 is logical followed by Bb7 and pressure on whites e4 pawn builds.

Thak you for your thoughtful and well explained comment.  I can't believe it took 8 replies before somone said something constructive in this thread.