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. Nb3/7...Be6

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) rn1qkb1r/1p3ppp/p2pbn2/4p3/4P3/1NN1B3/PPP2PPP/R2QKB1R w
Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6

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 Be6

This is the best move. The Black bishop covers d5 from e6 and also points at the queenside when White castles there. Black also contemplates using c4 as a piece outpost. Black's position retains maximum flexibility, as in almost all variations Black plays ...Be7, ...Nbd7, ...O-O, ...Rc8, and ...Nb6 in some order.

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 Be6

	8	9	10	11
English Attack	f3 Be7	Qd2 O-O	O-O-O Nbd7	g4 b5	=
	Qd2 Nbd7	f3 b5	O-O-O Be7	g4	=
	Nd5 Nbd7	f3 Nxd5	exd5 Bf5	Qd2 Rc8	=
	Qe2 Nbd7	f4 Rc8	f5 Bc4	Qf3 d5	=+

References

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