What's the best way to learn openings without focusing much on memorization?

I mean I've been struggling a lot lately. Used to be a caro player and switched to Najdorf. Been tryna play Najdorf and kind of Sicilian Defense in its entirety these days. The ton of theory they involve is really mind shattering! Is anyone aware of any chess books or in that matter any chess resource/method to efficiently and effectively learn openings and build a repertoire? Also how to learn openings without focusing much on memorization and more on understanding? Any help is highly appreciated! Peace.

Little Background:

I might as well be around fide 1650-1700 elo(my peak). Have drawn a 1877 elo OTB, few months ago. In my amateur phase, I used to play e5 as black against e4. Had a lot of success with the system. Then I dropped e5 and switched to c6(caro) just for the sake of learning positional and strategic play as I used to very bad positionally. Been playin caro for around a year now and have built a rock strong intuition in every structure it possesses. Then my friend came into the scene and suggested me to switch from the ever comfy caro to something with more initiative, activity and chances. So as my goal of being a better positional player was achieved, and I wanted to switch to active play, the only system that remained was c5 (Sicilian). And personally I like Najdorf. Somehow the positions that occur in it, come natural to my intuitive prowess. I just need proper guidance to carry forward it's legacy.

Danke.

Try the book "Play The Najdorf Sicilian" by James Rizzitano. It describes typical Najdorf themes and has sample games.

You built a "rock strong intuition in every structure" the Caro-Kann possess. Are you sure about that and your "intuitive prowess" when it comes to positions in the Najdorf? If that were even the case, you would not be asking what you're asking.

You can start with pawn structures. Since you believe you mastered the ones of the Caro-Kann, this should be easy for you also.

What percentage of your online games last beyond 30 moves? What does "might as well be around FIDE 1650-1700 elo" mean? Are you or not?

I understand wanting to learn Sicilian Defence (been there myself), but most of this other stuff makes little sense.

Well, first things first, the city where I live doesn't really conduct any FIDE rated tourneys throughout year. I've only played 2 FIDE rated tourneys in my entire life(I started chess in 2016). My current official rating from 2 tourneys I played is 1184 and I was pretty amateur at the time, so you can imagine how underrated I am in comparison to tourneys I played. I've played many local non rated tourneys and beated pretty strong players and the elo of players I've defeated can classify me around 1650-1700 elo. Now idk if this made any sense to you but if you got to offer anythin in regards to Sicilian defence, then do so and stop speculating. Cheers

Thanks for the suggestion sir. Will surely check it out!

The Najdorf Simplified by Alex Colovic. Avoid Giri's Najdorf as his lines are so sharp that if you don't remember a certain move you will get pulverized

the thing is, when you are a good player, you are not merely memorizing the best moves. You understand why they are the best moves and it becomes part of your intuition. People picture memorizing openings as if its some obscure fact thats otherwise entirely foreign to their brain and are liable to forget. If you play with your opening/defense enough times, and understand their ideas, then it wont feel like memorization at all.

For better or worse, class players and below often play things where the theory outspeeds the understanding, so people are forced to learn long continuations just not to get blown off the board, but really the main focus of any class player or below from the opening is to get acceptable middlegame positions. If you are finding your opening repertoire is requiring way too much out of you to get that, pick something else, or bite the bullet and book up.

My friend has a video for white players to play against the najdorf defence. >>>>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RVoc1GkHKY

"Education in Chess has to be an education in independent thinking and judging. Chess must not be memorized." - Lasker

1...e5 -.> 1...c6 -.> 1...c5 is a natural learning progression. But playing the Sicilian is a lot of work, and indeed much of it is memorization. There's no way around that. Short answer to your question is: Play openings that don't require (as much) memorization.

The Sicilian is one of the biggest blocks of learning in chess. No way around it. If you want to get good at it keep getting smashed in the opening in practice so you can treat the positions as a set of puzzles. Black to move why was my move bad and what is the best move.

zen chess perhaps.

I don't think the Najdorf is an opening for anyone under 2000 Elo. No amount of memorizing is going to help with those complications. If you want to play the Sicilian, choose one of the more solid lines, like the Kan, the Taimanov or the O'Kelly, about which an interesting-looking book has just been published (which I'd be buying if I wasn't so keen on the Caro-Kann at the moment).