I decided to test out a fun opening in the Sicilian Najdorf to come up with some main ideas. The sideline is called the Polugaevsky variation.
Sicilian defense open najdorf variation for beginners, Absolute Pin, Queen Side Castling.Viswanathan Anand Vs Boris Gelfand (1997)Data for Analysing.1.e4c52. The Najdorf Variation arises after 1 e4 c5 The Sicilian Defense. 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 This is the 'Open' Sicilian. Although the idea of the Sicilian is to prevent White from establishing the pawn duo on e4/d4 by cutting down White's center d-pawn for Black's wing c-pawn, the Open Sicilian is considered White's most aggressive.
The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most respected and deeply studied of all chess openings. Modern Chess Openings calls it the 'Cadillac' or 'Rolls Royce' of chess openings. The opening is named after the Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf. B96 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Polugaevsky Variation. 7b5 signifies the Polugaevsky variation. F4 was to put pressure on the e5 square and immediately threaten 8. This is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Najdorf. What black usually does is: Begins the Poisoned Pawn variation with Qb6; Blocks the pin with Be7. Chess Database Usage. The Chess Tempo Chess Database provides over two million searchable chess games. The database can be searched via many criteria, including chess players, chess opening, player ratings, game result, and the year the chess game was played.
I played a best of 5 with my friend Andres who is a 2150 USCF and has played this line before.
Going into these games, I had only had two games where my opponent accepted my sacrifice. So I was going in blind. [spoiler alert] I was lucky to win the first game but got smoked the next three.
I also have two Polugaevsky games by great players, Peter Leko and Hikaru Nakamura, at the end of this article.
Before looking at the games, let’s look at how the Polugaevsky starts.
Table of Contents
How Does the Najdorf Polugaevsky Variation Start
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
B96 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Polugaevsky Variation
7…b5 signifies the Polugaevsky variation.
The point of 7. f4 was to put pressure on the e5 square and immediately threaten 8. e5.
This is one of the main lines of the Sicilian Najdorf. What black usually does is:
- Begins the Poisoned Pawn variation with Qb6
- Blocks the pin with Be7
- Prevents e5 with Nbd7 (also allowing the queen to move without doubling the pawns if the bishop on g5 takes the knight.
All of these ideas are ignored with the Polugaevsky, which begins right away to go with the eventual plan of Bb7 taking control of the long diagonal.
That begs the question, is black giving up a piece with b5?
There is a sharp tactical line after:
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2
The queen has managed to take back the bishop on g5 and activate the queen.
What black gives up in this variation is development, but it turns into a super sharp line that’s very fun to play.
Here are a few games where I learned the main ideas of both sides.
Games Played with Angres (Dres)
For all of these games, we each agreed to play the same line as white and as black, up to move 8, where we wanted to see where things took a turn.
Each of these games were played with 5 minutes and no increment so plenty of these decisions had to come quick.
Game 1: Dres v Ragnarok
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
Black is welcoming e5, which white is threatening after f4. b5 is a move that black often will play anyway because of the pawn on e6 blocks the light squared bishop.
The point is that black will recapture the pawn on e5 with the d pawn, then Qe6, winning back the bishop.
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2
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White is clearly ahead in development, but black is not without compensation. The bishops have activity on the open diagonal, and the knight will soon be pinned after Bc5.
At least, that was my first idea.
11… Qxg5 12. O-O Bc5?
My first mistake when practicing. Ra7 was best.The bishop will do well on this diagonal, but first the rook needs to come into play via a7-d7. However, I don’t know why until after I play this game.
12… Ra7 13. Qd3 is best
13. Qd3??
My opponent may have thought I’d play the book move, Ra7, which is why this blunder occurred.
13… Bb7
Seizing the open diagonals with a lot of pressure. My goal is to threaten checkmate and keep pressure.
14. Ne4 Bxe4??
Definitely a blunder and now I’m behind. Best was to play Qd5 and put two attackers on the pinned knight on d4. The knight on e4 is also pinned because of the threat of checkmate on g2.
Now that my rook is under attack, I decide to trade queens to keep the game relatively even. I didn’t think my rook belonged on a7. This turns out to have been the right decision.
The next series of moves center around the pinned knight on d4 and how I try to put more pressure on it. White doesn’t have time to move the king to h1 just yet.
15. Qxe4 Qd5 16. Qxd5 exd5 17. Rad1 Nc6 18. c3?!
The rest of the game is not instructional for the opening, but shows the ideas that can occur. I was able to win the game with a tactical maneuver.
18… O-O 19. fxg7 Kxg7
Black has a weak central pawn on d5, but the pressure on the pinned knight will give black activity with the knight.
Here is the game if you’d like to see the rest. This was the only game I won in a best of four.
Game 2 Ragnarok v Dres
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7
The main idea for black is gain activity for the rook by pinning the knight to the queen.
Sure, black continues to delay development, but there is no good place for the minor pieces to develop yet.
This game shows how quickly the rook becomes an issue for white if not taken care of. }
13. Bf3
Already not realizing what’s happening. 13. Qd3 was best as mentioned in the previous game.
13… Rd7 14. Qd3
Attempting to get both rooks on the d and e files. However, this fails terribly by the next move.
14… Rxd4 15. Qxd4 Bc5
Other Ideas I could Have Tried Instead
(14. Rf2 e5
Pushing the pawn is preemptive as white doesn’t lose a piece like it originally looks,
15. Bd5 exd4 16. Qxd4 Bb7 17. Re1+)
If black takes the knight, then white is actually way ahead. The king is very exposed and check with Qb6 is coming if black doesn’t immediately give up a piece.
If black decides not the push the pawn and instead brings the queen back to e5, the position is more solid. Black should just develop
(14… Qe5 15. Nce2 gxf6 16. c3 16… Bh6)
Here’s the full game
Game 3 Dres v Ragnarok
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qd5
The best idea is to play Qe5 and keep the pin on the queen. White needs to respond by protecting the knight
15. Rad1 Bb7 16. Bf3 (16. Qg3 Bc5) 16… Qxd4+ 17. Qxd4 Rxd4 18. Rxd4
The idea was to pin the rook and get the piece back, but I missed that the rook can take the bishop on e4 right away and sidestep the pin.
Bxe4 19. Rxe4 gxf6 20. Bh5 Bc5+ 21. Kh1 Ke7 22. a4 b4 23. Rc4 Nd7 24. Rd1 Bd6 25. Rcd4
There’s nothing left to do and another piece will fall
Black resigns.
1-0
Here’s the full game
Game 4 Dres v Ragnarok
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Bc5
Showing how sharp the game is. The engine already puts this game at +2.3 for white. Black needs to play the Ra7-d7 idea to maintain equality.
13. Kh1 Bb7
Looks good in my book. Bishops dominating the long diagonals. But white is +7.8 right now.
14. Bf3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ra7 16. Ne4 Qe5 17. fxg7 Qxg7
+10 for white. Find the winning solution. Black’s pieces are just uncoordinated.
18. Nxe6 fxe6 19. Qh5+
Black resigns.
1-0
19… Kd8 20. Qxc5
White’s king is so exposed that the game is virtually over.
Here’s the full game
Wang, Hao (2739) – Nakamura, Hikaru (2778) Ra7 Idea
Let’s look at some Grandmaster level games and see what they do in this type of situation.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qe5
Black is trying to put pressure on the knight. White will respond with c3 if nothing is done. White opts in this game to counterattack the queen with Nf3.
15. Nf3
15… Qc7 16. Qe3
Both queens getting out of the way of the attack.
16… Bb7 17. Nfg5 h6 18. Qh3
18… g6
g6 helps keep the f6 pawn fixed and maintains the structure of black’s pawns. The white pawn can be hard to maintain in an end game if pieces are traded off.
19. Bd3 Nc6 20. Kh1
20. Nxf7 Rxf7 21. Qxe6+ Kd8 22. Rad1
Getting two pawns for the piece and more activity is a possibility.
The rest of the game is not relevant to this article, but I have it below if you’d like to continue to see how it ends.
Here’s the full game
Leko, Peter (2739) – Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan (2513)
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 b5
8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 12. O-O Ra7 13. Qd3 Rd7 14. Ne4 Qe5 15. Nf3 Qxb2
Taking the pawn this time. White gains a small advantage. In general, when you’re behind in development, you should recoordinate your forces.
Sicilian Defence Najdorf Variation
16. Qe3 Bb7 17. a4 b4
Qf4, keeping the pressure on the black pieces makes the most sense as a continuation. The dark squared bishop struggles to move after b4. This leaves the black king in the center which would be terrible for black.
White opts to attack the queen instead
18. Rab1 18… Qxc2 19. Nfg5 Qc7 20. Rxb4 Bxe4
21. Nxe4 Bxb4 22. fxg7 Rg8 23. Nf6+
There are a lot of weaknesses in black’s camp if the pawn is not dealt with efficiently.
23… Kd8 24. Nxg8 Bc5
Even the loss of a queen is not the biggest threat as the white pawn has reached the 7th and cannot be stopped.
Sicilian Defense Najdorf Variation Chess.com
25. Nf6 Bxe3+ 26. Kh1 Kc8
Black has to stop the threats of checkmate after g8=Q# that is incoming so the rook cannot be saved.
Black resigns.
1-0
Here’s the full game
I hope you enjoyed this article. This is a fun opening to try out if you’re having trouble playing against white with the Sicilian Najdorf, or if you just want something in your arsenal to catch your opponent off guard.