New trends: Najdorf, Czech Benoni and French Advance Variation

by ChessBase
7/16/2025 – In every issue of ChessBase Magazine, our experts present new opening ideas and trends in the video. In the current CBM #226, Luis Engel delivers part I of his analysis of the increasingly popular 6.Bd3 against the Sicilian Najdorf Variation. Daniel King examines the remarkably successful move 5...h5 in the Czech Benoni. And Mihail Marin summarises the current state of theory in the French Advance Variation with 5...Bd7 6.Ne2 Nge7 7.0-0. You can watch all three videos in this week’s CBM reading sample. Enjoy!
2025 European Championship with a German double victory and analyses by Bluebaum, Svane, Rodshtein, Yuffa, Navara and many more. Opening videos by Engel, King and Marin. Training sections “The Fortress”, “The Trap” and “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" etc.
ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post.
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Najdorf with 6.Bd3, Czech Benoni with 5...h5!? and  the French Advance Variation 

Free sample from ChessBase Magazine #226

Click on one of the following images to load the reading sample as a ChessBase Book in your web browser – also for iPad, tablet, Mac, etc.!

Luis Engel: Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Bd3 (Part I)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd3

The Sicilian Najdorf Variation has been part of Luis Engel's repertoire practically since the beginning. In this and the next issue, the GM from Hamburg presents the recently popular continuation 6.Bd3. The first part deals with all continuations except the main move 6...e5, which Engel has saved for Part II. First, our author examines 6...e6, after which White already gains a dangerous initiative with 7.f4!, especially if Black responds with 7...Be7 or 7...Qc7. An  alternative is 6...Nc6, but also here Engel sees White with a slight advantage after 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.b3! The continuation 6...g6 is better – after 7.f3, Black can follow up with the active 7...e5, for example.

Daniel King: Czech Benoni

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 h5

After the opening moves of the Czech Benoni (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4), Black has five "standard moves" to choose from – all of which have a positive score for White in the statistics (55% and above). Much better – albeit based on a much smaller number of games – is the move 5...h5, with over 60% in Black's favour! This may have been the deciding factor for Daniel King to take a closer look at this unusual idea. Of course, Black will benefit from the surprise effect here. But the move 5...h5 also proves to be very flexible, as Black does not commit to developing his minor pieces and keeps many options open. In his analysis, Daniel King discusses various options for White on the sixth move, including 6.h4, 6.f3 and Be3.

Mihail Marin: French Advance Variation

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7

The Advance Variation is a very principled and currently quite popular choice against the French Defence. In Mihail Marin's black repertoire, the variation with 5...Qb6 used to be at the top, but due to the modern continuation 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.0-0, which promises dangerous compensation for the sacrificed pawn, our author now prefers 5...Bd7. Marin's analysis focuses on the main continuation 6.Be2 Nge7 7.0-0. Here he recommends 7...Nf5. In his video, he discusses the variations after 8.Bd3, 8.Na3 and 8.dxc5 (see the game Firouzja-Aronian, Warsaw 2025).

Highlights of ChessBase Magazine #226

From the 2025 European Championship to Luis Engel's opening video on the Najdorf with 6.Bd3 and the new practical tip ‘Liquidation’ by Jan Markos and Oliver Reeh's tactical contribution ‘Queen sacrifice with dividend’ to Dr. Karsten Mueller's video series ‘Fundamental Endgame Knowledge’.

Over 7 hours of video playing time with Frederik Svane, Martin Breutigam, Daniel King, Luis Engel Jan Markos, Mihail Marin, Dr Karsten Mueller, Michael Prusikin, Oliver Reeh, Robert Ris and Dorian Rogozenco.

Order now in the ChessBase Shop  
ChessBase Magazine #226 for only € 21.90!

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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.