Frag Rattmann, Rattmann hat ...

The Najdorf is the most popular line of the Sicilian for a very good reason: Black can play for a win without taking undue risks. The Najdorf's fundamental soundness has been confirmed in countless top-level games, and in particular by Garry Kasparov's successful use of it throughout his career.

White has tried a wide variety of approaches against the Najdorf, including quiet positional lines and the traditional main line with 6.Lg5, while more recently the idea of a rapid kingside pawn advance has found favour. The Najdorf's landscape changes rapidly, and this presents its devotees with a complex task: they must not only keep up-to-date with sharp theoretical lines, but must also have a firm grasp of the strategies that underpin the main systems, both old and new.

This book lends a helping-hand to those who play the Najdorf or wish to take up this complex opening. Two Najdorf experts from Spain present a flexible repertoire for Black, including a wealth of original analysis of the critical variations. They also explain the key ideas behind the Najdorf, focusing on those plans that are most relevant to modern practice.

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Julen Arizmendi is a Spanish international master with two grandmaster norms. He is an experienced writer, and part of Jaque and Teoria's editorial staff. He represented his country at the 2002 Olympiad.

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Javier Moreno Carnero is a grandmaster from Spain who has worked for Shirov and studied with Anand, and was a member of the Spanish Olympiad team in 2000. He has contributed to the magazines Jaque and Gambito.

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A complete guide to understanding the most popular Sicilian system

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