Beating The Najdorf Rare

Lines - Ranko Szuhanek

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Beating the Najdorf Rare Lines
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Beating the Najdorf Rare Lines - Ranko Szuhanek
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CONTENTS

Title page
Foreword
System of signs
Introduction

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Cha pter 6
Cha pter 7
Cha pter 8
Cha pter 9
Cha pter 10
Cha pter 11

Variation Index
About the Author 

RankoSzuhanek
BeatingtheNajdorf
rarelines
ChessInformant
SINCE1966
 
Author 
Ranko Szuhanek 
 
Editorial board
Goran Arsović, Vitomir Božić, Aleksandar Matanović, Branko Tadić, Igor Žveglić
 
Design
Miloš Majstorović
 
Translation
Igor Žveglić
 
Editing and Typesetting
Jelena Arsović
 
Proofreading
Vitomir Božić
 
Editorial Assistant
Daniela Aćimović

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Editor-in-chief 
GM Branko Tadić
 
General Manager 
Vitomir Božić
 
President
GM Aleksandar Matanović
 
© Copyright 2021 Šahovski informator 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or 
transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
 
 No part of the Chess Informant system (classification of openings, endings and combinations, system
of signs, etc.) may be used in other publications without prior permission in writing from the
 publisher.
 
ISBN 978-86-7297-121-7
 
Publisher 
 
Šahovski informator
 
11001 Beograd, Francuska 31, Srbija
Phone: (381 11) 2630-109
[email protected]
www.sahovski.com
 

To my beloved Parents

FOREWORD
FROM THE AUTHOR 

I remember that twenty years ago I came across and read a very interesting book entitled “Substance
and Shadow” written by the late Vedic scholar Suhotra Swami.
The book is the illustration of the Vedic approach to knowledge. The book is divided into chapters
describing the philosophical, psychological and practical way a sensible person should live his life.
The teachings of ancient India’s famous epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata were also included in
the book; almost any reader could understand the essence of this invaluable inheritance.
The game of chess also has the origin in the Vedic space and epoch. The Mahabharata asserts that the
game called “chaturanga” ( which in Sanskrit means “having four limbs”) , was a war-simulation
game that inspired the big Kshatriyas (the caste of the warriors) to choose the military strategy of that
ancient epoch.
I would be very happy if the book you are holding now would be the “substance and shadow” for 
many active players and coaches; they may use it in the process of improving their own chess skills or 
those of the students whom they are teaching this exceptional game!
I would like to explain the way in which one should try to approach this book for better understanding
of the aspects I previously talked about.
The sidelines or rare variations the book deals with, are being played at top level mostly by following
categories of players:
1. Within the first category we can identify even some top 10 players in the world, but also many
renowned super GMs. The reasons they sometimes employ these lines are purely psychological, as
they want to avoid the opponent’s home preparation, and grab the surprise – factor advantage from
the very beginning of the game.
2. The second category includes the young rising stars, who are very self confident and also eager to
experience new positions and get some extra adrenaline. They experience both psychological and
 philosophical aspects of these rare lines, searching for lots of practical positions to be solved over the
 board.
3. Finally, the third category is the one this book is mainly dedicated to. They are the Najdorf players,
to whom I present a wide range of practical ways of refuting those lines in order to have an easy game
as Black.
Do not forget that you are the “substance” of this book, while the first two categories presented above
are the “shadow”.
After reading the book, diligent readers may ask themselves why there are some games where
excellent Black players commit such a large number of errors, eventually spoiling the final outcome
of the battle. This is a very suitable question, therefore those games were included on purpose. These
 players got themselves caught by the time pressure and eventually became a sitting duck for the
shadow’s throwers.

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What should we do in order to avoid this negative outcome?

Here are some good recommendations that in my opinion will be of great help:
1. Do not panic!
2. Breathe normally and just come to your senses; do not look surprised, but take some time to secure
the best way of dealing with your own mental capacity needed for the rest of the game.
3. Do that even if it means throwing a couple of minutes through the window, and do not literally
think about pure chess topics. Remember, the amount of time is not wasted, but rather the best way to
avoid the shadow!
Finally, after recovering, try to stick to the Najdorf-like typical positions at all cost. No hybrid of the
Dragon or Scheveningen-like variation would pay off, but it will only get your opponent closer to his
goal.
4. Apply the Najdorf knowledge and plans you have used for ages, and let the true “substance” bring
you the desired success.
In addition, how can we notice the difference between the substance and the shadow?
Is there a borderline between the two concepts that are strongly related to each other?
As the Sun rises above us in the sky, each substance has its own shadow and this is the symbol of 
knowledge from the ancient times.
If knowledge contains both the substance and the shadow, a top chess player must also have them, as
he should be always able to recognise the imaginary border between the two concepts and apply the
one which he thinks is appropriate for the given situation.
There are games in which both concepts should be used, as nowadays chess has become a very
complex matter. One cannot be a complete player without having all the segments of a grown-up
 personality including different areas of preparation.
Lately there has been a race against time in which we can witness the chess prodigies achieving
amazing results at a very young age. Some say it is just the “computer era” combined with numerous
talents given by the traditional chess nations. As a matter of fact, the problem goes much deeper than
that and it is related to preparation including a wide range of objectives to be mastered by the
students. I think mostly of the Indian and the Chinese young players who seem to have understood the
substance and shadow theory and who have applied it with much success.
I wish you good luck and much success in applying these amazing concepts you have just learned
about!

IM Ranko Szuhanek 

SYSTEM OF SIGNS
 

² white stands slightly better 

³ black stands slightly better 
± white has the upper hand
µ black has the upper hand
+– white has a decisive advantage
–+ black has a decisive аdvantage
= even
∞ unclear 
© with compensation for the material
‰ development advantage
О greater board room
‚ with attack
ƒ with initiative
„ with counterplay
ʘ zugzwang
# mate
! a very good move
!! an excellent move
? a mistake
?? a blunder 
!? a move deserving attention
?! a dubious move
∆ with the idea
™ only move
¹ better is
‡ centre
¸ king's side
« queen's side
× weak point
¬ endgame
® bishops of opposite color 
¯ bishops of the same color 
º double pawns
¼ passed pawn
> advantage in number of pawns

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† time
86/203 Chess Informant
E 12 Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
R 3/b Encyclopaedia of Chess Endings
N a novelty
(ch) championship
(izt) interzonal tournament
(ct) candidates' tournament
(m) match
(ol) olympiad
corr. correspondence game
RR  editorial comment
R  various moves
ª with
– see

INTRODUCTION

Chess has changed a lot lately. While the age of high performance has dropped considerably, we
witness a “total” approach to this fantastic game in terms of, literally, “everything is possible”.
The Najdorf variation is one of the main weapons Black applies in the Sicilian Defence. A quick 
development of the main lines, has pushed many players to look for other possibilities to fight against
it. Lines which were not played ten years ago, became popular even among the elite players, who
hope to have a proper chess game on the board, thus avoiding computer-based home preparation.
The fact that the Najdorf variation is a true option when playing for a win is established by the fact
that many World Champions have employed it, and along them almost all top players like Ian
epomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Hikaru Nakamura, Anish Giri,
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alireza Firouzja, Radosław Wojtaszek, Alexander Grishchuk, Boris
Gelfand, and many others. Many of them are also playing the same variation with both colours,
 preferring the rare lines as a surprise weapon hoping to win the psychological battle from the very
 beginning.
I remember to have played my first ever “Najdorf” as a child, back in 1981. Forty years have passed
since then, and it is still my number one weapon against the Sicilian Defence.
As the present work advocates Black’s side of dealing with the rare lines, I have tried to give some
directions where Black would find himself comfortable to equalise in most of the cases, and even get
an edge right from the very beginning.
It might sound a little too much, but in most cases the rare lines do not bring White the expected plus,
 but they still can be used as a surprise weapon.
I believe the instructive games that lie in the following pages would just be of great help for those
who want to improve their knowledge, and become more familiar with the ideas of some particular 
 positions. As a hint, there is in many cases the exchange sacrifice on c3, which eventually brings
Black both positional and tactical superiority. This idea is often neglected even by top players, who
could have employed it for an easier game or a possible way to victory. Even though there is nothing
visible immediately, the whole White concept falls apart after the Rxc3 sacrifice. The e4 pawn may or 
may not be captured, but the ruined pawn structure, (a weak king - if the long castle was played) and
the impossibility to fight for the d5 square give Black lots of prospects to play for a win. The d5 pawn
 push is, however, a desired objective, but there are pros and cons of that concept also, which is
explained in great detail as well.
This book contains all the rare lines a rational player could employ when playing White. One can also
find in it the most important ideas which, in my opinion, can take Black towards a comfortable
opening outcome.
Consequently, these lines are not free of poison if Black does not know how to react. However, the
rare lines are becoming more and more popular even at top level, and the percent of the games played
is growing every year. This is a clear sign that White is always in searching for new ways to fight the
ajdorf variation, and the future may bring us more surprises. We can witness lines such as 6.a4 or 
6.h3 spreading to a larger amount of games, so that they would hardly be considered rare anymore in

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the next couple of years.

One way or another, I believe that strong players would also develop some of these lines in White’s
 benefit, as the future will surely bring us chances for improvements and further development of these
lines.

10

CHAPTER 1
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3

The idea behind this move is to wait and see what the Black's plan is. This attempt is best met with
6...e5, but not because it is in the spirit of the Najdorf, but also because in the lines starting with either 
6...e6, or 6...g6, White may find the a3 move very useful for his own agenda. After 6...e5, it is Black's
mission to prove that a3 is just a waste of time, and that White cannot claim any advantage. There are
not that many grandmaster games in the database, so this variation is still to be explored. Yet for the
moment, in my opinion, the a3 line is just a surprise, and all that Black has to do is to play the
"correct Najdorf " even if he does not know any concrete theory. The World Champion Magnus
Carlsen tried it, and won the game against Radosław Wojtaszek (a renowned Najdorf specialist) even
though Wojtaszek played a solid line and got an equal position. Therefore we cannot blame the
opening play for Black's defeat. After 6...e5 White can try either 7.Nf3 which is quite passive and
does not bring any chance to fight for an advantage, or the more aggressive 7.Nf5 that can still be
refuted as you will see in the analysis.
 

6.a3... 7.Nf3

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a3

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6...e5 7.Nf3

This is considered less active, and Black should have no problems in this line if he plays accurately.
On the other hand, 8.Nf5 is the aggressive approach that gives White a small edge. 7...h6
7...Be7 8.Bc4 Be6 9.Ba2 O-O 10.O-O b5 11.Re1 Re8 12.Bg5 N bd7= Sergey Karyakin 2785 - Anish
Giri 2773, Wijk aan Zee 2017 – 131/(74); 7... Qc7 8.Bg5 N bd7 9.Be2 Be7 10.Nd2 N b6 (10...O-O
11.Nc4 b5 12.Ne3 B b7=) 11.a4 Be6 12.a5 N bd7 13.Nf1 O-O 14.Ne3 b5 15.axb6 Qxb6 16.R b1 Rfb8
17.O-O Qc5 18.Na4 Qc6 19.c4 Bd8 20.Nd5 Kh8 (20...h6 21. Bxf6 Nxf6=) 21.Bd3 a5 22.b3

12

22...Ne8 (22...Nc5!?) 23.Be3 Nc7 24.f4 exf4 25. Nxf4 Ne5 26.Nxe6 Nxe6 27.Bc2 Bg5 28.Bf2 Nf4
29.Nc3 Rd8 30.Kh1 Qd7 31.Bg3 Nfg6 32.Nd5 Rdb8 33.Qh5² Božidar Đurašević - Svetozar 
Gligorić, Beograd 1954
8.Bc4
8.h3 Be7 9.Bc4 Be6 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.O-O O-O 12. Qd3 (12.b4? This is a positional mistake.The c4 is
an important square for White, and should have not been given away so easily. 12... N bd7 13.Qd3
(13.B b2?! The bishop has no business on the long diagonal. 13... Rc8 14.Rc1 N b6 15.Nd2 Nc4
16.Nxc4 Rxc4 17.f3 Qc7 (17...a5µ Christian Fleishhacker 1819 - Ante Brkic 2597, Österreich 2021)
18.Ne2 d5 19.Qd3 b5 20.Ng3 Rd8 21.exd5 Nxd5 22.Q b3 Bg5µ) 13...Rc8 14.Bd2 N b6 15.Rad1 Nc4
16.Bc1 Qc7 17.Rfe1 b5³) 12...b5 13.Be3 N bd7 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.Nh2 Rab8 16.Ng4 Nxg4 17.hxg4
N b6 18.Bc1 Qc6 19.Rfe1 R bd8= Despite the equality given by the engines, Black has a more flexible
 position.
8...Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.O-O
10.Nh4 The Russian GM Semen Dvoirys brought this idea to life. It is more of a surprise than the line
that objectively gives White an edge. 10... Nc6 11.f4

13