The Najdorf is once again, an opening that one needs to understand. For me, it is better said than done. I think I understand the French inherently better than other positions, or maybe the Philidor Hanham, but there you go...
Can you "e4"d to play 1.e4?
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I have been studying a bit more on my book on 1. e4, and against the Najdorf, it gives most of its material to the Bg5 lines against the Najdorf. I played an idea that is not covered in the book, and I did well with it - I scored two miniatutes with it. This being said, I would like to post these games to get ideas from those who are good with the Sicilian - my key idea of discussion revolves around the early h4. The idea is common in chess - to sack the piece on g5 to gain an open h-file, while "blocking" the defenders from protecting key squares. This idea is prevalent in Bird's Opening -the idea of g4-g5. In the e4 systems, with Bg5 (an idea often not possible in 1. f4 due to the pawn obstruction), White can ram the piece onto g5 with pawn support at f4 and h4. Please, provide your ideas - if you want to be harsh, it doesn't do much good, so if you don't like the idea, at least please provide a reasonable answer without criticism like "That's stupid" - those kind of remarks never help any of us! :-)
Seems like your opponent just walked into it in those games....
In Najdorf and Schev structures, generally Black leaves his king in the center for a bit-with a "wait and see" type of game. He might even play something like Kf8 instead.
Btw, in game 2, instead of 10.h4, 10.Bxf6 forces gxf6 and the opening of the Black king since ...Bxf6 loses to the tactic 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12.e5! -Always look for this move in Sicilian structures like this especially with the pawn duo f4/e4. Too lazy to diagram it but you can see that the d pawn is pinned and the c6 pawn is also attacked along with the bishop.
Overall, though I wouldn't really recommend the Bg5 variation as white though. Its a great line and all but theres tons of theory (esp in the PP!) and I reckon it would be easier to learn the English Attack 6.Be3 (you can use it against 4 Sicilians-Dragon (its called yugoslav atk), Najdorf, Schev, Taimanov) That being said, Bg5 is the line I hate most as a Najdorf player. Btw, what book are you using?
And the idea of playing h4+g4 is fine though, just make sure you look for tactics around the board as well that might lead to more advantageous positions instead of an autopilot attack. Never play afully autopilot attack since you really gotta make sure you don't get an unexpected blow in the center with a well prepared ...d5 or something-doesn't really apply here but just saying in general.
And its good that you are venturing into the world of Open Sicilians btw. Its really fun out there :)
Lava, I will take a greater look at this post later, when I have more time - thank you. I want to read these ideas you wrote again.
My weakness is tactics. That is not my strongest area. So venturing these types of lines will be mental pushups for me in those areas.
The book is called Chess Opening Essentials Volume 1 - The Complete 1. e4.
They offer many ideas Black can use to face 1. e4, essentially all of the major ones, and White's replies. They give Najdorf Bg5 from p.337 to 352. They do not mention the h4 idea there, but also it is only a few pages! :-) The idea of the book is not to be think theory wise, but to give you some lines that are able to be understood with White.
Oh and some more tactics that can come up in some sicilian positions are the devasting Bxe6 or Nxe6, Nd5, or Nf5 at times. Just stuff to be on the lookout for.
Sometimes, the sacs are just speculative but often Black needs to defend quite well and its very hard for even GMs:
At the moment, I'm pretty much "hoping" that people don't know about this haha since I haven't bothered to analyze it in detail.
I am not seeing anyone mention the Najdorf. I am between 1200-1300 (an estimate made by my teacher) and I picked up the Najdorf pretty easily. In my experience Najdorf games usually end up with the players castling on opposite sides.You are right, these games tend to be very sharp, but I have noticed my tactics improving since learning sicilian openings. As far as solid e4 openings, the ruy lopez is as solid as it gets.