"You are holding in your hands the fourteenth (and last!) book in the series “Opening For White According To Anand: 1.e4”. This volume is devoted to the variations of the Najdorf Sicilian arising after the moves 6.Be3 Ng4 and 6.Be3 e5. It is possible that nowadays these lines are no longer the main focus of theoretical attention, yet only a few years ago their correct evaluation and treatment were absolutely crucial for opening theory in general.

In the first part of this book we have analyzed the variation 6.Be3 Ng4.

In the second and main part of the book we have analyzed the line 6.Be3 e5. This is not just a single variation, but rather an entire complex of opening lines, whose theory is now so complicated, involving many different branches, that it resembles a separate opening.

White is faced with an immediate choice: where to retreat his knight. The moves 7.Nf3 and 7.Nde2 are by no means harmless for Black, but nevertheless I would venture to recommend the traditionally main move 7.Nb3, with the already familiar plan of Qd2+f3+g4+0-0-0; in the first place, because I consider this to be White’s most principled approach, and secondly because the entire plan and all its nuances are already familiar to us from the previous books in this series."

Part 1 Knight Variation

011 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 - 1 various; 7...h6 8.Bh4 various; 8...g5 9.Bg3 various; 9...Bg7 10.h3 Nf6

026 2 7...h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.h3 Ne5

Part 2 English Attack (6...e5)

049 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 3 without 7...Be6

064 4 7...Be6 8.f3 without 8...h5, 8...Be7 and 8...Nbd7

078 5 7...Be6 8.f3 h5

109 6 7...Be6 8.f3 Be7

137 7 7...Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 h6

177 8 7...Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 without 9...h6 and 9...Be7

214 9 7...Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Be7 10.g4 without 10...0-0

232 10 7...Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Be7 10.g4 0-0 11.0-0-0 w/o 11...b5

247 11 7...Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 Be7 10.g4 0-0 11.0-0-0 b5

269 Index of Variations