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Resources to study the anti-English Najdorf Sicilian?

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AlexanderSun

Could anyone recommend resources to study the anti-English in the Najdorf Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4)?

I am a serious player and came across this line while analyzing Kasparov's games. I am interested in its fighting chances and positional ideas (eg. kingside wing chain, nullifying white's dark-squared bishop) and would be willing to dedicate time to master it. However, I struggled to find resources - all the books, videos, and courses I have come across recommend 6... e5 against the English attack. 

Some engine analysis revealed many complex lines and patterns, so it seems like reviewing master games may not be enough to learn this opening.

Thanks in advance!

tygxc

Best resource is a database.

tlay80

Cheparinov's chesable course is the most recent resource I know of that covers that line:

https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-repertoires-cheparinovs-najdorf-sicilian/course/103744/

I've yet to meet a database that offers narrative comments (or even non-narrative comments) explaining the ideas of an opening. That's a weird recommendation.

tygxc

@3

You have to study the games in the data base.
That gives you not only opening moves, but middle game plans and resulting endgames.

AlexanderSun

Thanks for all your support! Database are definitely important, but I was also looking for explanation-based resources such as books or courses. This line looks a little complicated for me to understand based purely on what grandmaster moves. Ideally, I would have both resources - books to build understanding and lines, and databases for vision and patterns.

Thank you both again!

ThrillerFan
AlexanderSun wrote:

Thanks for all your support! Database are definitely important, but I was also looking for explanation-based resources such as books or courses. This line looks a little complicated for me to understand based purely on what grandmaster moves. Ideally, I would have both resources - books to build understanding and lines, and databases for vision and patterns.

Thank you both again!

Specifically geared to that one line? No.

There are many books on the English Attack in general that will likely have a single chapter on that variation, like the book published by Gambit Publishing on the English Attack from the mid-2000s. It is too much of a sideline to write a whole book on it, and it can also be avoided with 6.f3.

tlay80
ThrillerFan wrote:
AlexanderSun wrote:

Thanks for all your support! Database are definitely important, but I was also looking for explanation-based resources such as books or courses. This line looks a little complicated for me to understand based purely on what grandmaster moves. Ideally, I would have both resources - books to build understanding and lines, and databases for vision and patterns.

Thank you both again!

Specifically geared to that one line? No.

There are many books on the English Attack in general that will likely have a single chapter on that variation, like the book published by Gambit Publishing on the English Attack from the mid-2000s. It is too much of a sideline to write a whole book on it, and it can also be avoided with 6.f3.

You mean Rizzitano. You’d think so, but no, he only covers e5. Palliser’s “starting out” book does give it a chapter though. I assume it’s also covered at some length in Nunn’s two-volume account of the Najdorf, but that’s going back a quarter century. 
Cherarinov’s is the only lengthy modern account I know of from Black’s perspective. (From White’s, there’s a half volume on it in Khalifman’s “opening Repertoire according to Anand”)

Oh, there’s also a book on the English Attack from around 2008 that I suspect covers it. Author has a Finnish (Estonian?) name that starts with an S and ends with an o.

The OP is right that most Najdorf books exclude it for one reason or another (especially if they’re repertoires, but even some that aren’t, like Rizzitano)

naokoze

ye was here pien

blueemu

I've been playing the Najdorf for over 50 years and I've never owned a repertoire book.

My method for studying a line is to play it and lose, then analyze the game, then play it and lose, then analyze the game, then play it and lose, then analyze the game, then play it and win.

Your mileage may vary.