Linares 2010: Topalov Leads

Topalov has taken charge at Linares. After 5 rounds, he's the only player with a plus score. Aronian, Grischuk, and Gashimov are chasing a point back. Today, Topalov won with the rarely played 6.h3 (after a feint and a ruse) in the Najdorf. Compare to game 41 below where the game transposed to a Keres Attack with 6...e6.

Corus 2010, Group A: Nakamura Prevails in Najdorf

In the second round, three games are still underway in the A Group, but Nakamura and Carlsen have already come through with the full point. Carlsen played Smeets and won off the white side of the Botvinnik variation of the Semi-Slav, so as you might expect there's much to see there. But first, Nakamura beats van Wely in a Najdorf when the latter chooses 7... Nbd7 over 7...Be7 or 7... Qb6.

Najdorf 101: Fischer Attack Revisited

Compare the present game with Game 15 below. Here White plays 9.Qf3 versus the 9.Rd1 in Game 15. 9.Qf3 is the better approach.

Najdorf 101: 6.Bc4--Fischer Attack

Playing the Najdorf is a theoretical challenge. Below is the base position and Mega 2009 shows that virtually every reasonable move has been played by White in this position, with 6.Be2 being the classic response and most played. But fashion and theory change, and the table shows how White players over 2500 have handled the position the past couple of years. The English Attack has taken over the prime spot. The English Attack, however, still makes up substantially fewer than one-half the games played against the Najdorf. One of the "other" moves remains Fischer's 6.Bc4, which is the subject of the below games.

. Move # games W's % . 6.Be3 498 55.2% . 6.Bg5 423 52% . 6.Be2 213 53.6% . 6.Bc4 61 50.8% . 6.f3 52 53.8% . 6.h3 48 61.5% . 6.g3 42 45.3% . 6.a4 29 55.2% . 6.f4 28 53.6%

A good place to start is with Fischer himself.

And this effort on my part helps demonstrate my affinity for the Najdorf. It's a sensible way to play for a win with Black. This was my last game of an ICCF Master's Promotion tournament, a tournament I was able to win by a 1/2 point because of this game.

Meeting the English Attack with 6...Ng4

Rather than enter into one of the most analyzed variations of the English Attack versus the Najdorf with 6...e5, many players, including Super GMs, have opted for the completely different game that results from 6...Ng4. There is room for a tremendous amount of original analysis in this variation. See the below game where Carlsen just a few days ago brought out 6...Ng4 against Leko. The annotations are mine, with assistance from Rybka 3.

7.Qf3 vs. the Najdorf

Modern databases make zooming in on the novelty presented in every game possible. Here, 7.Qf3 is not a novelty by a long shot, but it is probably underplayed. White wins the opening if not the game. Annotations by Fritz 12 and Rybka 3.