The Najdorf Powerbook 2016 is based on a totally incredible number of games: 1.9 million! The lion's share is provided by the engine room on playchess.com, with the addition of 120 000 games from human experts. An essential tool for Najdorf specialists.
The Najdorf is an opening with a long history but it is still very modern and a popular guest in today's top level tournaments. World Champions such as Bobby Fischer, Vishy Anand, Veselin Topalov, and Garry Kasparov played the Najdorf with great success. Kasparov in particular introduced a wealth of new ideas and concepts and made a huge contribution to the Najdorf and to the development of attacking chess in the 21st century. No wonder that Bologan thinks to know at least the basics of the Najdorf is part of chess culture.
The DVD has a very clear structure and the lines (6.h3; 6.f4; 6.g3; 6.Bc4; 6.Bg5; 6.Be2; 6.Be3) and possible sidelines are treated in several videoclips with a length of about 10 to 20 minutes — a length that helps to keep an overview of the lines. The videos are well done, and just studying them attentively gives you a relatively good feeling for the variation.
In each video Bologan tries to deal with the critical moves and tries to explain a couple of general plans. He makes a conscious effort to keep the videos clear and short by not dealing with all possibles lines in detail. The detailed variations can be found in the databases which take a closer look at the variations.
Bologan usually recommends not to play the classical Scheveningen set-up with e7-e6 but to go for the more dynamic approach with e7-e5. (Except for the the lines with 6.Bc4 and 6.Bg5, because here e7-e5 is dubious). Bologan often follows games by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Anton Korobov or Ian Nepomniatchi, who are all great experts of the Najdorf and know the opening by heart.
Worth mentioning are the ten test positions at the end which complete the videos in which Bologan explains the basic ideas of the Najdorf. The reader is asked to find the best move in ten typical Najdorf positions and Bologan then explains the positions in detail. This offers a good opportunity to test how well you understood and remembered the ideas shown in the explanatory videos.
I do recommed Bologan's "The complex Najdorf" for players who are looking for a new opening which offers great dynamic potential and offers Black good chances to play for a win against 1.e4. For those "experienced" Najdorf players, you also will certainly find inspiration and new ideas.
The DVD appeared in 2015 and therefore one should compare some lines with current grandmaster games. All lines recommended by Bologan are of course safe and well playable but theory still develops rapidly, e.g. in the line with 6.Bg5 where Parimarjan Negi came up with a number of new and dangerous ideas in his book "Grandmaster Repertoire: 1.e4 vs The Sicilian". You should know the current theory when confronted with such a sharp line.
But even though the DVD cannot be up-to-date with the latest theoretical developments it still offers a good insight into one of the most fascinating chess openings there is.
When choosing an opening repertoire, there are days when you want to play for a win with Black, when you want to bear down on your opponent’s position with a potentially crushing attack. The Najdorf is perfect for just such occasions. Strategy, combinations, attack and defence, sacrifices and marvellous manoeuvres — exciting chess is all about the Najdorf!
