Easy Guide to the Najdorf is Tony Kosten's repertoire book for players of Black who open 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6. Earlier relevant books on this subject include Daniel King's Winning with the Najdorf and John Nunn's two Complete Najdorf books for Batsford, on 6.Bg5 (1996) and "Modern Lines" (1998), the latter updated (co-authored) by Joe Gallagher. The latter two books are the standard, but as with all openings, these lines have been changing rapidly and need updating.

I have been teaching the Najdorf recently (although I've never played it), and I was curious that Kosten suggests something different from what I had chosen versus several main lines. So I took a closer look at his recommendations, and I have to give high marks for originality, but in a few cases, low marks for quality.

Let me start with a variation that shows Kosten at his best: 6.Bc4. Here he presents a variation that he himself has contributed to the theory of (going back 20 years!): the ...e6/...b5/...Bb7/...Be7 lines, which look very convincing to me. Along the way, he improves greatly upon some analysis by Nunn and Gallagher (no easy thing to do), and clearly explains the variety of move orders for both sides, something I haven't seen elsewhere.

Kosten also has original ideas about 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4, suggesting 7...Nc6, but I'm very skeptical of his choice of lines. For one thing, with Fischer and Kasparov as two exemplars, many players have given up on 6.Bg5 due to the Poisoned Pawn Variation (7...Qb6), and the traditional 7...Be7 lines still seem to work (see Nunn for a whole book on this subject). Kosten's recommendation seems unnecessary and possibly just bad. For example, in his main line with 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.e5 h6 10.Bh4 g5 11.fxg5 Nd5 12.Ne4 Qb6 13.Bd3 hxg5, he is rightfully skeptical of all the previous answers to 14.Bg3! (14...dxe5, 14...Qxb2, and 14...Qb4, all of which seem to give White too much attack), and so offers 14...Qe3+ 15.Qe2 Qxe2+ as "perfectly playable," giving 16.Bxe2 dxe5 17.Bxe5 Rh4 18.Nf6+, leading to a position "close to equality." But at the end of this line, 18.Bf3! is better, intending 18...g4 19.Nf6+ or 18...Be7 19.g3 Rh6 20.0-0-0 with advantage. Furthermore, 16.Kxe2 also makes Black's life difficult after either 16...dxe5 17.Bxe5 or 16...Nf4+ 17.Bxf4 exf4 18.Nd6+. Since Black's play doesn't seem to allow for earlier deviations (unless one can make something of the 14th-move options), this alone casts doubt on Kosten's 7...Nc6.

I was also suspicious of Kosten's main line against 6.Be3, i.e., 6...e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.Qd2 b5 10.a4 b4 11.Nd5 Bxd5 12.exd5 Nb6 13.Bxb6 Qxb6 14.a5 Qb7 15.Bc4 Be7 16.Ra4 Rb8 17.Nc1 0-0 18.Na2 Nd7 19.b3 e4 20.fxe4 Bd8 (much of this is forced), and now I like 21.Kd1! (to threaten Rxb4) 21...Qc8 22.Rxb4 Ra8 23.Qe2 (or 23.Qf4 Nc5 24.Be2 Bxa5 25.Rd4) 23...Bxa5 24.Ra4 Qc7 25.Bd3, which looks quite good for White. At the very least, this line is not comfortable for Black, and unlike many openings, there are other, sounder options in the Najdorf.

I don't want to give the wrong impression: Kosten's 6.Be2 e5 analysis is excellent, and his analysis of 6.g3 e5 7.Nde2 Nbd7 intending ...b5 (8.a4 b6) is detailed and sound. Irregular lines are all well met, and as mentioned, the 6.Bc4 analysis is exceptional. Surely anyone playing or taking up the Najdorf will find plenty of value in this book. I just wonder why he needed to pick lines of questionable soundness (if I'm right!) versus 6.Bg5 and 6.Be3.

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