[Event "The Sicilian Najdorf: The Main Line: 6.Bg5"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/JM9AjCVp/XpPrMRY3"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/LeninPerez"]
[ECO "B97"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Poisoned Pawn Accepted"]
[UTCDate "2021.11.08"]
[UTCTime "15:51:41"]
[Variant "Standard"]

{ Let's look at another very aggressive option for White... } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 { When you are playing Black and your opponent plays this line, you knwo that you are going to have a complicated game. On the 60s, White played almost exclusively this variation. Thanks to Fischer's and Kasparov's efforts with Black, White saw that achieving advantage with this line is not that easy. This is the most aggressive option to play for White, which in the vast majority of times leads to very complicated positions with a lot of tactics. White threatens to damage Black's pawn structure, so Black must react.
Although this line is not played very often today, it has been used by great players to combat the Najdorf. } 6... e6 { White is already creating threats very early, this time by doubling the pawns on the "f" file, so Black has to make a decision about it.
The main move is 6.e6, making room for the black queen, who now avoids the doubled pawns. [%csl Gf6][%cal Gd8f6,Rg5f6] } ( 6... e5 { This is not the right thing to do, since then... } 7. Nf5 { From here the knight is very annoying, as it does not allow your f8 bishop to develop, and puts pressure on the d6 pawn.
So you must play Nc6 and eliminate that knight soon with Bxf5, but you would lose the bishop pair, and that doesn't quite solve the problems. } ) ( 6... Nbd7 { This is the second option to play
The two knights support each other and together, they foil the plan of doubling the pawns to white. } 7. Bc4 { The white bishops are very active! } 7... Qb6 8. Bb3 e6 { To restrict the activity of the white bishop.
This line is in my opinion the most solid way to play against 6.Bg5. } ) 7. f4 { Moreover, White realizes that the knight on f6 is pinned, so Black should always be careful with the move e5. White gains space in the center! } 7... Qb6 { After this move we are in the Poisoned Pawn variation. Black grabs the pawn on b2 but White has a very dangerous initiative. The black queen is targeting the b2 pawn, which can start a very difficult position later on. } ( 7... h6 { This, on the other hand, is less aggressive } 8. Bh4 Qb6 9. a3 Be7 ( 9... Qxb2 $4 { Black falls into the trap of the poisoned pawn and the black queen is locked up. } 10. Na4 { [%csl Rb2] } ) 10. Bf2 Qc7 { Both sides are even. } ) ( 7... b5 { This is the ultrarisky Polugayevsky Variation. After } 8. e5 dxe5 9. fxe5 Qc7 $1 10. exf6 Qe5+ 11. Be2 Qxg5 { This position has been analzyed for many years but after } 12. O-O { White managed to cause Black serious troubles more than once. Anyway, this is not surprising, Black did not develop any single piece! } ) 8. Qd2 $1 { White shcould sacrifice the pawn. It is necessary after sacrificing the pawn, it is necessary for White to get compensation for it and, on some occasions, this is not achieved, so to avoid this type of situation and the complicated positions to which it leads, White has stopped playing 6.Bg5 so often. [%csl Rb2] } ( 8. Nb3 { Black would play } 8... Nbd7 { Followed by Qc7-b5 finishing the development comfortably, while the knight on b3 is worse located than on d4. } ) 8... Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 { This is the key position. White now has two main plans: Playing with e5 or with f5. It is very important for White to play as aggresively as possible, that's very common when you are pawn down. } 10. e5 { It is the most common continuation. } ( 10. f5 { White plans to put pressure on e6, that's why Black fights against the knight on d4 with } 10... Nc6 { and now the main line is } 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Be2 Be7 14. O-O O-O 15. Rb3 Qc5+ 16. Be3 Qe5 17. Bf4 Qc5+ 18. Be3 { with a draw by perpetual check. Many games have ended this way. } ) 10... dxe5 ( 10... h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 13. exf6 gxh4 14. Be2 { This is other main line, very similar to the Polugayevsky variation, but in this case, White is not as much ahead on the development. There are many games with this position and apparently both sides have chances. } ) 11. fxe5 Nfd7 { Seems like Black has everything under control, but White decides to sacrifice a new pawn. White continues with 12.Ne4, with an extremely complicated position! black responds with (you can reproduce these movements if you want)
h6, 13.Bh4, Qxa2, 14.Rd1, Qd5, 15.Qe3, Qxe5, 16.Be2, Bc5, 17.Bg3, Qd5, 18.c4, Bxd4, 19.Rxd4, Qa5 +, 20.Rd2, OO, 21.Bd6, f5, 22.Bxf8, Nxf8
White has better quality, but black has enough compensation. } *