Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...d6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...Nf6/5. Nc3/5...a6/6. Be3/6...e5/7. Nb3

Najdorf Sicilian, English Attack
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkb1r/1p3ppp/p2p1n2/4p3/4P3/1NN1B3/PPP2PPP/R2QKB1R b
Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3

Najdorf Sicilian, English Attack

Moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3

The English Attack is a brute-force all-purpose attacking setup characterized by White's moves Be3, Qd2, f3, g4, h4, O-O-O, Rg1, and crack open the kingside, in some order. It has been before seen in the Dragon, the Richter-Rauzer, and the Scheveningen, so it is nothing new. White attempts to open lines to Black's king on the kingside, castling long to ensure his own king safety. Black, meanwhile, attempts the same thing on the queenside, with an extremely sharp game. Kingside attack, however, is not the only idea. White often occupies d5 with a knight. When the knight gets chopped off, White recaptures with the pawn, following up with a maneuver of the b3-knight to a5 and then c6, occupying the other light-squared hole! After playing these moves White often ensures his own king safety, and can proceed to attack at his leisure.

Black invariably plays ...Be6 here, but ...Be7 is another move-order, and is good as long as Black intends to follow up with ...Be6. It is vitally important that Black cover the d5-square.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3

	7	8	9	10
English Attack	Be6	f3 Be7	Qd2 O-O	O-O-O Nbd7	=

References

de Firmian, Nick. Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition. New York, NY: Random House, 2008.