Kasparov's "How to play the Najdorf"

Hi all!

My coach has selected for me the Sicilian Najdorf to play against 1.e4.

So far, I must say I love it!

Browsing the web, I came across this. 

Does any of you have any experience with it? Would you say it would make any sense for me to buy it, or it is probably too "deep" stuff for my little brain?

Thanks in advance for any comments!

Andrea

Why is the Najdorf better than Scheveningen or Pelikan or Dragon? Not that I am against eitherof them..but I am curious as to why one should play a particular opening (and such a high profile and intricate one) while ignoring others. Some guy at the park suggested e5 while his opponent suggested c5. Both looked experienced and yet all they could say was one opening was better than the other !

I don't think, especially at my level, than it is a matter of "best opening".

I think it's more matter of picking a solid opening, and understanding as much as you can the concepts around it. I am a very structured person, and I love the concept of having a "core" set of information upon which build my knowledge.

With White I play the "Torre Attack" (D03) which is by no means "the best opening for White": however I enjoy it very much, it's very close to my playing style, and I am getting good results with it. So I stick to it, and slowly improve it over time by analyzing with my coach all the lost games, so they turn into learning opportunities.

I think if you were going to learn the najdorf, getting a video from Kasparov would certainly be a step in the right direction as he was a great player with it.  As to some of the more intricate parts of it, you may have to go over that with your coach or just learn it over time.  Anyway, since you are a bright young person andreacoda, it should take you no time to learn.

Gluon- I agree with what you are saying.  I don't think one sicilian is better than the other, but I do think that a player's taste is what determines what is better for them.  I play the accelerated dragon with the sicilian, and I don't honestly think it is better than any other sicilian.  It is just what I like.

AndreaCoda / Sharkpoet : How did you find out what's your style?

I am having a hard time to figure out what I should or shouldn't play..or what suits my style..as I have not even found out what my style is. Did any of you ever had that problem or am I all alone in this dilemma?

I really don't have a "style" per se but a general interest in certain openings thus far.  I learned d pawn openings because most of the players I played against used e pawn.  I learned the accelerated dragon because it was the one sicilian book our club had at the time and I couldn't stand playing the French anymore.  We've since gotten other books but I still like the accelerated dragon game.

My advice to you is something that many strong players have told me.  Play a bunch of different openings and see which ones you like.  Some people don't like the sicilian and play the caro kann or the french.

Thanks all for your comments!

To Gluon, regarding the questions on "how do you know what is your style". In my case, my coach did two things:

1) He showed me a number of openings, and asked me what I thought of those (i.e. how did I feel getting into the middle game with the position originating from those openings)

2) He reviewed a good number of games I played, with annotations by myself, so to understand my "style" and preference

From these two points, he came out with his suggestions.

Your coach is a fine human being, my friend!

He is indeed, my friend! ;-)