Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be3 Ng4

by Robert Ris
12/22/2025 – Twenty years after Topalov’s legendary knight sacrifice in San Luis, history echoed on the same stage. Ivan Cheparinov revisited the famous Najdorf line against Alexey Shirov — and after a 65-minute think on move 21, “Fire on the Board” struck back with a brilliant finish. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Robert Ris: "Back in 2005 Veselin Topalov became the new World Champion in San Luis, Argentina. People will definitely remember his amazing knight sacrifice on f3 in the Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be3 Ng4, which enabled him to defeat Peter Svidler with the Black pieces. Now, exactly 20 years later on the same soil, his former second Ivan Cheparinov went with the Black pieces for the exact same variation against Alexey Shirov. In a theoretical position Shirov spent 65 minutes(!) on his move 21.Qxd6 after which Cheparinov directly made the decisive mistake, allowing Mr. Fire on the Board to finish off the game in style! "

In this DVD, Erwin l'Ami guides you through the fascinating Benko Gambit. As early as move three Black starts a fight for the initiative, a strategy that has proved to be successful in countless amateur and master level games.

Exercise: White to play and win!

Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!

This week's show

Watch previous shows

Recent shows

Many more Fast and Furious episodes are available in ChessBase Videos

Links

<< Global Chess League - Live!
Top ten women players fighting for the crown in Doha >>
Topics: Fast and Furious
Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Benko Gambit with 5...e6

12/16/2025 – This week we are having a look at a spectacular miniature played in the Greek Championships. The game Nikolaidis-Alexakis featured the Benko gambit in which Black opted for the modern treatment with 5...e6. Black even got the chance of sacrificing a knight on move 10, how often do you see that happening still in grandmaster play?? | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
More...
 1

See also

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Queen's Indian Defence 5.Qc2

12/9/2025 – This week an Indian top Grandmaster 2662-rated lost a game in only 16 moves! In this week's episode we will see what went wrong in a sharp line of the Queen's Indian Defence with 5.Qc2, which includes an early pawn sacrifice. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can <a href="https://account.chessbase.com/en/create-account" target="_blank">register a Premium account here</a>.
More...
 1

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.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register