Hi all,

I recently played 3 OTB as black for my team, in which a similar variation of the open Sicilian (Najdorf) was played.
This happens to be one of the openings I know best (unlike for instance 1.c4 when I'm basically out of 'book' on move 1), so for a change it was nice to have a little opening advantage OTB.

I think all 3 games have elements that are critical to the typical Najdorf, such as white wasting tempi in the opening giving black a great position, or black screwing up the attack in which case white wins.
(That was me in the second game, and almost in the third).

I've put in some short comments about my thoughts during the game.

They are only clublevel games but I had good fun, hope you enjoy 😉

Opponent (1755) - me (1817)

You made "lapsus keyboard" with your last comment "27... Rxa3" you meant Rxa2, but that everyone figured out, I think.

Anyways, good games, nice to see effective Najdorf. I remembered now one of my Poluagevski variaton-OTB games from ... khm 1980! It turned into something like your third game.

Edited already 😉 thanks for pointing it out.

These were very thematic and enjoyable games to play through.

live in Florida USA, and it is rare to even get a chance to play an Open Sicilian, as most white players play it closed or with 2. c3, etc.

Good show!

Great games. Thanks for sharing.The second game really shows the importance of not giving up, since white was in a hopeless position but ended up winning anyway.

Thanks for sharing.

I have just recently started playing the Sicilian on a regular basis. For a novice like myself, this was a breath of fresh air. Thank you for sharing the games - very exciting and informative.

"Never go in against the Sicilian when death is on the line." ... sorry I love Vizzini.