Have been curious about this line of moves from the Sicilian:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Bd7 and if 7.f3 then ...Nc6 w/ the idea of occupying the long diagonal h8-a1 if white captured 8.Nxc6 Bxc6. Otherwise, black drives away the white knight from the powerful central square d4 without removing the...e7 defense of the...dpawn when and if black decides to move that epawn.

Hopefully, my explanation is as clear as daylight.

lets put it this way, many GM's are straying away from the small positional adavantages that you get in sharp positions as white, rather, GMs are going towards the dynamics that are contrasted in these openings, with the najdorf being numero uno

Hi, pareng Hamis! Ganda ng sequence for black. Unfortunately, it looks so similar to a dragon set-up which I rarely use. My personal experience is that black's dark square bishop is more effective operating from the center rather than the wing. Maybe it just depends on player's temperament. Many thanks for your insight.

First, the bishop is not that effective on the long diagonal because of the pawn chain f3-e4, which greatly limits the bishop's scope. Second, the white knight does not have to move.

6...Bd7 looks rather slow, and probably premature. Black should play a more flexible move that he needs to play anyway like 6...e6 or 6...e5. He needs to move the e-pawn eventually to develop his kingside, but it isn't clear yet where the best square for the light squared bishop his. In these english attack positions, the queen's knight usually doesn't belong on c6 either as it gets in the way of a possible rook on c8 and/or a bishop on b7. Also, It doesn't fight for control of the important d5 square, like it does from d7 where it reinforces the knight on f6 and can go to b6 in order to play the freeing move ...d5 (This is very important if black chooses 6...e5). Last of all, black's queenside counterplay looks slower than it does in the other Najdorf lines, so I would be happy as white to castle long and throw my kingside pawns up the board, probably with a good chance of attacking first.

Probably why this line scores over 70% for white.