6.Rg1 vs. the Najdorf
Did you see the recent Carlsen vs. Sjugirov Banter Blitz Cup match?
This was a really interesting match, as Sjugirov has possibly the best record vs. Carlsen in classical tournament games - 2 wins from 2 games!
However, in the match, Carlsen brought his absolute A-game, winning the match with a perfect 9-0 score that reminds me of Fischer's 6-0 scores against Taimanov and Larsen.
You can guess from the title what Carlsen's weapon against Sjugirov's Najdorf was...
The idea behind 6.Rg1 is very blunt - charge the g-pawn with g4-g5! And we don't waste any time with 'passive' moves like f3 or h3 
The first time I saw this 6.Rg1 move was in the game Ivanchuk-Kasparov, from the 2002 Russia vs. The World match. In that game, Kasparov tried switching to a Dragon approach, before playing ...e5 anyway, but it didn't work and Ivanchuk won a historic game:
The first time I saw this 6.Rg1 move was in the game Ivanchuk-Kasparov, from the 2002 Russia vs. The World match. In that game, Kasparov tried switching to a Dragon approach, before playing ...e5 anyway, but it didn't work and Ivanchuk won a historic game:
6.Rg1 has been given different names, from the 'Freak Attack' to the 'Petronic Attack', but to me the 'Todorovic Variation' seems the most logical name, as he was the first player to play 6.Rg1 according to my database, and did so several times, with good results.
The stem game of 6.Rg1 shows that Black can't just follow the thematic 'meet the flank attack with a central counterattack' and expect to equalize:
One of Carlsen's wins also demonstrated that ...d5 is not an automatic equalizer, even with ...e5 played first:
Prior to this Carlsen-Sjugirov match, the latest news in 6.Rg1 was the following game from Tata Steel 2020, where Van Foreest played a very creative opening strategy with 11.Kd1!! to gain an edge, though Firouzja defended well to hold the draw:
It seems to me that the most common 'mistake' Black makes against 6.Rg1 is to try and transpose to a Dragon, since the move Rg1 is not necessarily less useful than Black's slow ...a6 move. Another of Carlsen's wins against Sjugirov presents a strong example of this, where Carlsen goes his own way with 8.f3!? (instead of the standard 8.Bg2) and wins convincingly:
Theoretically speaking, my recommendation for Black would be either 6...b5 (intending the 8...h6 improvement I noted above) or 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.g4 d5, meeting the flank attack with a central thrust under better circumstances.
In conclusion, 6.Rg1 is not objectively giving White an advantage against the Najdorf. But it's quite an unpleasant surprise weapon, as some of the more 'natural' replies, like playing the normal Dragon, Scheveningen or ...e5 Najdorf moves, tends to give White an improved version of other lines with the English Attack or 6.h3 setup.
I recently recorded a nice video course talking through the Carlsen vs. Sjugirov games in the match. In this blog post, I shared a sample of the annotations of two of my games from these videos (without the explanations, which I share in the videos). I just shared Part 1 of my commentary (covering the first 4 games, including two very nice endgame wins) with 'The Chess Improvement Group', while I am saving Part 2 for another project that I will let you know about soon
If you want access to more content like what I've shared with you here, click on this link.
The stem game of 6.Rg1 shows that Black can't just follow the thematic 'meet the flank attack with a central counterattack' and expect to equalize:
One of Carlsen's wins also demonstrated that ...d5 is not an automatic equalizer, even with ...e5 played first:
Prior to this Carlsen-Sjugirov match, the latest news in 6.Rg1 was the following game from Tata Steel 2020, where Van Foreest played a very creative opening strategy with 11.Kd1!! to gain an edge, though Firouzja defended well to hold the draw:
It seems to me that the most common 'mistake' Black makes against 6.Rg1 is to try and transpose to a Dragon, since the move Rg1 is not necessarily less useful than Black's slow ...a6 move. Another of Carlsen's wins against Sjugirov presents a strong example of this, where Carlsen goes his own way with 8.f3!? (instead of the standard 8.Bg2) and wins convincingly:
Theoretically speaking, my recommendation for Black would be either 6...b5 (intending the 8...h6 improvement I noted above) or 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.g4 d5, meeting the flank attack with a central thrust under better circumstances.
In conclusion, 6.Rg1 is not objectively giving White an advantage against the Najdorf. But it's quite an unpleasant surprise weapon, as some of the more 'natural' replies, like playing the normal Dragon, Scheveningen or ...e5 Najdorf moves, tends to give White an improved version of other lines with the English Attack or 6.h3 setup.
I recently recorded a nice video course talking through the Carlsen vs. Sjugirov games in the match. In this blog post, I shared a sample of the annotations of two of my games from these videos (without the explanations, which I share in the videos). I just shared Part 1 of my commentary (covering the first 4 games, including two very nice endgame wins) with 'The Chess Improvement Group', while I am saving Part 2 for another project that I will let you know about soon
If you want access to more content like what I've shared with you here, click on this link.
You'll be asked to join my free Chess Improvement list. Then you'll receive the offer to join 'The Chess Improvement Group' (and access all the nice chess training bonuses) on the next page!
See you soon with more great chess content!
See you soon with more great chess content!
