Plans and ideas in the Najdorf Sicilian

If you're looking for a Sicilian with less theory, you need to go Taimanov or the Kan. I like the Taimanov. The Kan is a little cramped unless you like Hedgehog-like positions.

At club level, the Najdorf can often be played without knowing much theory, relying mainly on ideas and concepts.

"... anyone who is just starting out should not dive into the vast ocean of theory that is the Najdorf. For beginners, the time invested in studying even minor lines can be more productively used solving tactical puzzles and basic endgame technique.
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... In some lines, a good understanding of basic principles will take you far, while in others, such as the Poisoned Pawn (6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qb6!?), memorization is a must, as one wrong move can cost you the game in the blink of an eye. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626175558/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen87.pdf

The other thing I will say regarding the sicilian....

After I abondoned the Najdorf I looked at the Taimonov. 

Then, I quit the sicilian all together.

Why?

Because at least 50% of my games, if not 70%, I ended up facing Anti-Silicians: closed, grand prix, rossolimo. I hate those positions as I find them boring. 

So you could spend all this time learning the Najdorf and Taimonov and all their in's and out's, and yet 50% of your games or more will end up being anti-sicilians. 

A waste of time... and boring. 

Something to think about if you're considering the siclian. 

Oh... and I also abandoned the french defense for the same reason. I hate the exchange variation.

Strange. I get open sicilians all the time.

Sarogar wrote:

The other thing I will say regarding the sicilian....After I abondoned the Najdorf I looked at the Taimonov. 

Then, I quit the sicilian all together.Why?Because at least 50% of my games, if not 70%, I ended up facing Anti-Silicians: closed, grand prix, rossolimo. I hate those positions as I find them boring. So you could spend all this time learning the Najdorf and Taimonov and all their in's and out's, and yet 50% of your games or more will end up being anti-sicilians. A waste of time... and boring. Something to think about if you're considering the siclian. Oh... and I also abandoned the french defense for the same reason. I hate the exchange variation.

Oh i still got open Sicilians. But i started to see more of a prominence of anti-Sicilians. At least more than I liked playing against. I just found them dull. After spending all the time learning the Najdorf or Taimonov it was frustrating to continue to run into anti's which don't apply to the theory of the Najdorf or Taimonov.

Sicilian is a bore to attacking and aggressive players. Most of them choose the Sicilian attracted by its complexity and attack on the queenside, but later change the opening due to anti-sicilians and billions of side-lines and variations. It is a waste of time unless you are at the elite level.

One does not simply play the Najdorf without knowledge of theory.

If you go for a Sicilian, I recommend a Taimanov or a Kan.

you mean taimanov has no theory?

No, it just means that theory isn't as important in the Taimanov than it is in the Najdorf.

But taimanov isn't that attacking like the other sicilians and I am an attacking player

Then play it anyway. And please stop with the "I'm an attacking player" stuff.

Dark square control as of d4.

Rapid advances on the queenside with manoeuvres like b5-b4 to put pressure on the c3 knight as well to hamper movement of white's queenside majority and break up defences in the event white has castled on the queenside.

Control of the d5 square is imperative in this opening as it's quite juicy for a knight and black often gets into an unpleasant fork (with the queen on c7 and the bishop on e7). Supplementary moves like Be6 and Nbd7 are helpful in this case.

Of course, exploiting the c-file and even going for an exchange sacrifice to injure white's pawn structure.  

More than anything, be careful as the Najdorf is one of the sharpest openings in chess and has many subtleties like black's king side protection. It can lead to some very wild and unclear games.This is the English attack (please correct me if I'm wrong) where white launches a fearsome looking attack on the kingside, but which black should be able to defend without a lot of hassle. Attacks like these tend to lead nowhere for white because of black's solid set up.

You people who are saying you gave up playing Sicilian entirely because of the frequency of 2. c3 and 2. Nc3 etc., are you saying you saw a lot of this online, or in OTB tournaments? Or both?

Why do people get all freaked out about anti-Sicilians? The Alapin (2. c3) wins 33 percent of the time, loses 33 percent of the time and draws 34 percent of the time, according to Game Explorer. You simply need to learn how to play against it, starting with 2...Nf6. Most of the anti-Sicilians don't really score that well for white. Why would I give up the highest scoring defense for black?

If you read my post, it didn't say i had a hard time against them. I didn't like playing against them as I found the positions boring. There is a difference. It's also a waste of time to invest in studying Sicilians variations when 50% of your games wont' go into those lines. If you're going to study openings you can invest studying an opening you will see more often.

Also, using database work I don't find realistic sub 2200. 

At the club level I think you'll find anti-sicilians score quite well for the reasons I've already mentioned. 

Anti-Sicilians aren't that difficult--if you work to learn how to deal with them. Anti-Sicilians Move by Move and Sveshnikov vs. The Anti-Sicilians were good references on how to deal with them.