Mastering the Sicilian Najdorf

Empire Chess - Volume 86

GM Andrei Volokitin presents a 3 hour masterclass on the Sicilian Najdorf – considered the Rolls Royce (or Cadillac) of chess openings. A favorite of Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, the Najdorf variation gives both White and Black many ways to play for a win.

However, the opening is so sharp that one mistake can mean defeat – which is why it is essential to understand the Najdorf properly if you are going to play it yourself or if you are a 1.e4 player. Even after the initial moves (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6) there are many good alternatives.

There are the 4 Bishop moves:

• Bg5 – controlling d5 by challenging the Knight, incredibly sharp
• Be3 – aiming to castle Queenside and start a pawn storm against Black’s King
• Be2 – Karpov’s favorite, the positional move
• Bc4 – Fischer’s favorite, eyeing d5 but expect sacrifices on e6 and f7 too.

…and 4 pawn moves:

• 6.f3 – planning Be3 and Qd2 without allowing Ng4
• 6.h3 – followed by g4 and often Bg2, White can choose to play aggressively or positionally
• 6.a4 – restricting Black’s Queenside counterplay straight away
• 6.f4 – the most aggressive move, White will play e5 or f5

All of these are covered in great depth during this 3 hour DVD by Super GM Andrei Volokitin, who has many fantastic wins with both colors in the Najdorf. With a peak FIDE rating of 2725 and notable wins over the likes of Magnus Carlsen (this game is on the DVD), Hikaru Nakamura and Mamedyarov, GM Volokitin is someone to pay attention to!

14 chapters cover 7 deeply analysed games as well as theoretical background on each of the 8 variations mentioned above.

This is the essential DVD for players wishing to Master the Sicilian Najdorf.

RELOADED Edition! – Highlights

• Exclusive Grandmaster/Master Video by a brilliant presenter. We preselect only the most compelling and interesting Grandmasters and Masters to make DVDs for us.
• Highest quality audio and video available with Grandmaster Webcam. No more wasted time listening to low quality videos where it’s hard to hear the audio and video.
• In depth text chapter summaries in PDF format of each DVD’s content to easily reference if you need a quick refresher on a specific topic.
• 20 relevant and challenging practice problems per disc with solutions so you can test your learning and knowledge.
• PGNs included for every game so you can plug the games into your favorite chess engine.
• Brought to you by iChess.net – The World Leaders in DVD education.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. Najdorf Theory, 6.Bg5
2. Volokitin – Mamedyarov
3. Radjabov – Volokitin
4. Volokitin – Areschenko
5. Najdorf Theory, 6.Be2
6. Volokitin – Efimenko
7. Volokitin – Carlsen
8. Najdorf Theory, 6.Be3
9. McShane – Volokitin
10. Volokitin – Zhigalko
11. Najdorf Theory, 6.a4: Kamsky – Topalov
12. Najdorf Theory, 6.f4
13. Najdorf Theory, 6.f3: Jakovenko – Artemiev
14. Najdorf Theory, 6.h3

Running Time: 3 hours