Contents: 006 Bibliography 007 Preface 009 Introduction 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 012 1 6 Bc4: Introduction and Sidelines 034 2 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 b5 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qf3 055 3 6 Be3 e6: Introduction and Sidelines 063 4 6 Be3 e6 7 B: The English Attack 088 5 6 Be2 e6: Introduction 101 6 6 Be2 e6: Main Lines 140 7 6 Bg5 167 8 6 f4 180 9 6 g3 185 10 Other Sixth Move Options for White 189 Index of Variations

Catalogue text: Are you fed up with playing inferior defences as Black? Would you like to play 'real' openings but are put off by the steep theoretical learning curve? Then this book can be the answer to all your problems! The Najdorf Sicilian is an extremely sharp and yet well respected opening with great pedigree. It scores very well in practical play and is particularly dangerous in the hands of dynamic players who like to play to win as Black. In this book, opening expert John Emms produces a comprehensive but workable black repertoire against all of White's possible options in the Najdorf. John Emms is one of Britain's strongest Grandmasters and a member of the English national team. The Najdorf Sicilian is one of the most sharp, dynamic and popular openings that Black can play and is a firm favourite amongst the world's elite players, including world number one Garry Kasparov. From very early on, Black unbalances the game to reach a position in which one can play for the win without exceptional risk. The soundness of the Najdorf has never been seriously doubted, but some players can be put off by the ever-spiralling amount of theory amassed on this great opening. In Play the Najdorf: Scheveningen Style, however, Grandmaster and openings expert John Emms condenses this mountain to produce a workable black repertoire against all of White's possible options. Emms concentrates on lines where Black adopts a very early ...e7-e6, thus establishing the well-known Scheveningen pawn structure. - Explains an opening championed by Garry Kasparov - Written by a renowned openings theoretician - Covers all of White's main replies The main objective of this book is to arm the reader with a reliable and yet ambitious defence to the Open Sicilian. The book is aimed at players wishing to take up the Najdorf as their main weapon against 1 e4 and those who already play it but would like to increase their repertoire within the opening. I don't pretend to be the world's leading expert on the Najdorf and Scheveningen. I have plenty of experience in some lines and a sprinkling of knowledge in others. However, I jumped at the chance to write this book because I knew it would be a great learning experience to study one of the most important openings in the history of chess - a challenging, sometimes arduous, but overall rewarding task. And at the end of the day I hoped that it would also provide me with another defence against 1 e4! There are many good reasons to play the Najdorf, but the one that stands out to me is the fact that it's generally regarded as 100 percent sound. Generations of the world's leading players have relied on the Najdorf as their main defence, and they cannot all be wrong. And yet the opening is also incredibly enterprising - Black can play for a win from the word go without having to first go through the boring process of equalising. Because of the asymmetric nature of the pawn structure, Black acquires certain advantages from the very start (more central pawns, for one thing). Who plays the Najdorf? Well, it would be quite easy to jot down a long list of world-class devotees, but perhaps just two are sufficient: Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. The two most famous figures in chess history have relied upon the Najdorf throughout their careers and both have made massive contributions to the theory (from White's side as well as Black's). I should point out at this stage that the repertoire I'm recommending is actually a blend of the Najdorf and another great Sicilian defence - the Scheveningen. The simplistic way to explain the difference between the two is that in the Najdorf, depending on circumstances, Black quickly plays either ...e7-e6 or ...e7-e5; in the Scheveningen he always sticks with ...e7-e6. The reasons for concentrating on the Scheveningen pawn structure were twofold. Firstly, I certainly have more experience and understanding of these positions with both colours (with Black I have played both the Sicilian Kan and Taimanov, in which Black often adopts the Scheveningen structure). More importantly, though, as far as I'm aware there is very little published material featuring a repertoire with a mixture of the two. The Najdorf very much appeals to ambitious players, but also those who are prepared to put in a bit of good old-fashioned hard graft. It's true that there is a substantial amount of theory that simply has to be learnt. I've endeavoured to condense the mountain into a workable repertoire but, as you can see, this is hardly a leaflet that you have in front of you. That said, one advantage of choosing to always adopt an ...e7-e6 approach is that you can soon become familiar with the structure and the systems of development. I've often given more than one option in Black's repertoire. Sometimes this is to cater for different styles and occasionally it's because I've felt that the state of the theory in certain lines is unstable. I've tried to collect and check games and analysis from a wide range of sources, the most important of which are Chess Informant, ChessBase Magazine, New in Chess, plus the chess databases Mega Database 2003 and Mega Corr 2 (a database of over 350,000 correspondence games). I've tried to attribute analysis and assessments accordingly, except when these are totally obvious. Once again I've been ably assisted in checking and providing new analysis, and making assessments by a 'team' of computer engines - sadly one cannot live without them in the often-crazy complications of the Najdorf. I've tried to make as few analytical errors as possible, but in such sharp lines I guess it would be impossible to be perfect. I'd welcome any feedback on mistakes you discover - you can email me at Everyman. Aside from a very brief explanation in the Introduction, I have dealt with positional and tactical ideas as they arise in the repertoire, rather than separately. In conclusion, some acknowledgements. I would like to thank Byron Jacobs and Dan Addelman at Everyman for their patience in what has been a long, long project. I would also like to thank Joe Gallagher for providing useful extra material. Finally, special thanks go to Richard Palliser for his input, analysis and assessments of certain lines. John Emms Kent June 2003, Preface