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50-564: The best known of these, called the Poisoned Pawn Variation, is a line of the Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation that begins with the moves: after which 8.Qd2 Qxb2 usually follows, accepting the "poisoned" b2-pawn. White can also play 8.Nb3, protecting the pawn. One of the pioneers of this line was David Bronstein , who tied the 1951 World Championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik 12–12. Bobby Fischer later became

100-471: A Polish immigrant in the New York City Subway , who turned out to be a cousin. In 1944, Najdorf became a naturalized citizen of Argentina. He had studied Latin at college, so easily picked up Spanish. Najdorf spoke eight languages; in addition to his native Polish and adopted Spanish, he spoke English, Russian, Czech, Serbo-Croat, Dutch, and Yiddish. In April 1947, Najdorf met Adela ("Eta"), one of

150-415: A full-time chess professional (for many years he worked in the insurance business, selling life insurance), Najdorf was one of the world's leading chess players in the 1940s and 1950s. Najdorf's string of successes from 1939 to 1947 had raised him into the ranks of the world's top players. According to Chessmetrics , he was ranked second in the world from mid 1947 to mid 1949. Based on his results, there

200-1067: A match against Ored Karlin (+1–2=1). In 1934, he won the Warsaw championship. In 1935, he tied for 2nd–4th with Frydman and Henryk Friedman , behind Tartakower, in the 3rd Polish Chess Championship , held in Warsaw. Afterward, Najdorf won a match against Tartakower in Toruń (+2–1=2). In 1936, he tied for first with Lajos Steiner in the Hungarian Championship. In 1937, he took third at the 4th Championship of Poland in Jurata . In 1937, he won in Rogaška Slatina (Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn). In 1938, he tied for 10th–12th in Łódź . In 1939, he took sixth in Margate , and won in Warsaw . Najdorf represented Poland in four pre-war Chess Olympiads . In August 1935, he played third board in

250-560: A mixture of extremes: violent-tempered, but compassionate and loving, selfish at times but also generous to a fault, jovial and a bon vivant, but also sad because of the terrible losses of the Holocaust. Adela died on 21 August 1977, of an inoperable intestinal tumour. The family kept the diagnosis secret from her, while Najdorf consulted the best oncologists in the US to no avail. Not long after Adela died, Najdorf married again, to Rita, who had been

300-597: A modern variation (7...Nbd7) caused a resurgence and it appeared in the 1993 PCA World Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short . Anatoly Karpov faced the Najdorf many times with the white pieces, and frequently opted for the Classical/Opočenský Variation (6.Be2) (inspired by Efim Geller, who acted as Karpov’s second). The Classical Variation aims to castle kingside for a more positional game, which suited Karpov's style. He contributed both to

350-605: A piece, you might as well resign then and there. But when Tal offers you a piece, you would do well to keep playing, because then he might offer you another, and then another, and then ... who knows?" Najdorf remained active in chess to the end of his life. He won the South African Open in 1976 and at age 69, he tied for second place in a very strong field at Buenos Aires 1979, with 8/13, behind winner Bent Larsen (11/13), though ahead of former world champions Tigran Petrosian and Boris Spassky . At Buenos Aires 1988, he made

400-426: A proponent, playing it with great success. The line was most famously played in game 7 and game 11 of the 1972 World Chess Championship match between Fischer and Spassky . In both games Fischer played Black and grabbed the pawn. In the first, he reached a secure position with a comfortable material advantage but only secured a draw . In the second, Spassky surprised Fischer with a theoretical novelty and won

450-473: A quieter, more positional game, whereupon Black has the option of transposing into a Scheveningen Variation by playing 6...e6 or keeping the game in Najdorf lines by playing 6...e5. Another option is to play 6...Nbd7. Some lines include: GM Daniel King recommends 6...g6 against the Amsterdam Variation, leading to a more defensive kingside pawn structure. The idea is to eventually counterattack on

500-586: A record 40 opponents in 1943, and increased the record to 45 in 1947. This record stood until 2011. He set these records in the hope that the news would be reported in Europe and his family would learn of his whereabouts, but they had perished in concentration camps by the time the information arrived. In September 1939, after the Olympiad, Najdorf emerged as one of the top players in the chess world. He tied for first with Paul Keres at Buenos Aires (Círculo de Ajedrez);

550-411: A score of 8½/15 for fourth place at age 78. The next year in the 1989 Argentine Chess Championship , with several other GMs in the field, he tied for 4th–6th places, with 10/17. His last national championship was in 1991 at age 81, where he finished with a minus score. Najdorf was an exceptional blitz (five-minute) player, remaining a strong player into his 80s. Najdorf regarded Capablanca and Fischer as

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600-505: A widow for 12 years. Najdorf had met Rita and her husband Jacobo, a socialist attorney and keen chess player, soon after he arrived in Argentina. They became close family friends. Rita and Jacobo had no children of their own, but had many nieces and nephews, and they treated the Najdorf daughters like nieces. The families would often get together, and the men would play and analyse chess and the women would talk. At one such gathering, when Liliana

650-513: Is an aggressive attempt by White to refute the opening and was regarded as the main line until the 1980s when its use began to decline. Bobby Fischer, who called the Najdorf "one of the greatest creations in chess theory", favoured the Lipnitzky/Fischer Attack (6.Bc4) for much of his career. He won numerous games with it as White, though in the following years counterattacking approaches were found for Black that led to its decline, though

700-461: The kingside and try to exploit the passed h-pawn, while Black destroys the centre . There is also a Poisoned Pawn Variation in the Latvian Gambit : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 ?! This variation leads to extremely sharp play, is considered rather dubious, and is thus rarely seen today. However, Graham Burgess states that it "is not utterly, clearly bad". Within

750-584: The 6th Chess Olympiad in Warsaw (+9–2=6). In August 1936, he was second board in 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad organised by the German Chess Federation in Munich (+14–2=4). In June/July 1937, he played at second board in the 7th Chess Olympiad in Stockholm (+5–3=7). In the 1939 Olympiad , Najdorf played second board for Poland and achieved a score of +12−2=4, winning a gold pen and pencil set. During

800-711: The 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires in August/September 1939, World War II broke out. Najdorf was Jewish, as were two of his teammates, Tartakower and Frydman. He decided to stay and settle in Argentina (as did many others). He became an Argentine citizen in 1944. His wife, daughter, parents and four siblings all were murdered in The Holocaust . Najdorf later remarried (twice) and had two daughters. Najdorf set world records for simultaneous blindfold chess . He played

850-576: The London System , the Poisoned Pawn Variation follows after: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Qb6 5.Nc3 Qxb2?! Black is lost after 6.Nb5 Na6 7.a3 Bf5 8.dxc5 Bxc2 9.Qc1 Qxc1+ 10.Rxc1 and the c-pawn is too strong. The Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Trompowsky Attack goes 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.d5 Qb6 4.Nc3. The continuation 4...Qxb2 5.Bd2 Qb6 is the Chepukaitis Gambit. A poisoned pawn variation

900-538: The Sicilian Defense , one of the most popular openings in modern chess, is named after him. Najdorf also made contributions to the theory and praxis of other openings such as the King's Indian Defense . Najdorf was also a well-respected chess journalist, who had a popular column in the Buenos Aires Clarín newspaper. According to a biography by his younger daughter Liliana (b. 1952), Mojsze Mendel ("Mikel") Najdorf

950-462: The 1920s, often transposing to the Scheveningen after a subsequent ...e6. The Czech chess master Karel Opočenský was among the first to combine 5...a6 with ...e5, and in an attempt to have the variation named after him, claimed to have shown it to Miguel Najdorf himself. However, Najdorf was a stronger player and, with the help of other strong Argentine players in the 1950s, deepened the analysis of

1000-480: The 1970 USSR vs. Rest of the World match, achieving an even score against the former world champion Mikhail Tal . Najdorf's lively personality made him a great favorite among chess fans, as he displayed an aptitude for witty sayings, in the manner of his mentor Tartakower. An example: commenting on his opponent at the 1970 USSR vs. Rest of the World match, he remarked, "When [then-World Champion Boris] Spassky offers you

1050-524: The Dragon. The English Attack, named for them, involves 6.Be3, and often leads to opposite-side castling with both sides launching a simultaneous pawn storm on opposite sides of the board. This approach has become the modern mainline and is seen regularly at the highest level. The main move. In the early days of the Najdorf 7.Qf3 was popular, but the reply 7...h6 did not allow White to obtain any advantage. Nowadays, White players almost universally respond with

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1100-410: The Najdorf. Should Black continue with 6...e5 anyway, White can respond with 7.Nde2 following up with g4 and Ng3, fighting for the weak light squares by playing g5. It is thus recommended that Black prevents g4 altogether with 7...h5. Black can also employ a Scheveningen set-up with 6...e6 followed by 7.g4 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7, forcing White to lose more time by defending the e4-pawn, since ...b4 is a threat. It

1150-607: The Polish-Argentine grandmaster Miguel Najdorf , although he was not the first strong player to play the variation. Many players have relied on the Najdorf (notably Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov , although Kasparov would often transpose into a Scheveningen ). The Najdorf begins: Black's 5...a6 aims to deny the b5-square to White's knights and light-square bishop while maintaining flexible development . If Black plays 5...e5 ?! immediately, then after 6.Bb5+ ! Bd7 (or 6...Nbd7 7.Nf5) 7.Bxd7+ Nbxd7 (or Qxd7) 8.Nf5,

1200-555: The beginning of his chess career, around 1930, Najdorf defeated a player believed to be named "Glücksberg" in a famous game often referred to as "The Polish Immortal ". In 1930, he tied for 6th–7th at the Warsaw Championship, an event won by Paulino Frydman . In 1931, he took second in Warsaw, behind Frydman. In 1932, he tied for 9th–10th in Warsaw. In 1933, he won in Warsaw ( Quadrangular ). In January 1934, he finished second to Rudolf Spielmann , in Warsaw. In summer 1934, he lost

1250-415: The g1–a7 diagonal with a move like ...Qb6, preventing White from castling. An example line would be 6...g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.a4 Nc6 (note 8...Nc6 as opposed to the usual Najdorf ...Nbd7, as c6 is a more flexible square for the knight with a queen on b6) 9.Bd3 Qb6. Introduced by Weaver Adams during the middle of the twentieth century, this odd-looking pawn move has mostly been used as a surprise weapon to combat

1300-410: The game after Fischer defended poorly, allowing Spassky to trap Fischer's queen and handing Fischer his only loss in the Poisoned Pawn Variation. The line was later taken up successfully by other leading players, including world champions Garry Kasparov , Viswanathan Anand , and Anatoly Karpov . It remains one of the most theoretically important variations of the Sicilian Defense . In recent times,

1350-703: The greatest players of all time. Najdorf played eleven times for Argentina in Chess Olympiads from 1950 to 1976. He played first board in the 9th Chess Olympiad at Dubrovnik 1950 (+8–0=6), as well as at Helsinki 1952 (+11–2=3), Amsterdam 1954 , Moscow 1956 , Leipzig 1960 , Varna 1962 , Havana 1966 , Lugano 1968 , Siegen 1970 , and Haifa 1976 . Only during the Olympiad at Nice 1974 , he played on third board. Najdorf took eleven Olympic medals: seven for teams Poland and Argentina (four silver, three bronze), and four individuals (gold in 1939, 1950, and 1952, as well as one silver in 1962). The Najdorf Variation in

1400-408: The idea of playing against f7, so Black usually counters with 6...e6 7.Bb3 b5. The Sozin has become less popular because of 7...Nbd7 where Black intends to follow up with ...Nc5 later. It is possible to avoid the 7...Nbd7 option with 7.0-0, but this cuts out the aggressive possibility of castling long. Because of the success of various players with these variations, White often plays 6.Be2 and goes for

1450-934: The international arena, particularly in war-stricken Europe. In 1946, Najdorf tied for 4th–5th with László Szabó at Groningen , with 11½/19; the event was won by Mikhail Botvinnik . He then won at Prague , with (+9−1=3), ahead of Petar Trifunović , Gösta Stoltz , Svetozar Gligorić , and Jan Foltys . He also won at Barcelona 1946, with 11½/13, ahead of Daniel Yanofsky . In 1947, he took second place at Buenos Aires/La Plata (Sextangular), with 6½/10, behind Ståhlberg, but ahead of Max Euwe . In 1947, he won at Mar del Plata. In 1947, he finished second, after Erich Eliskases , at São Paulo . In 1948, Najdorf placed second at New York City with 6/9, two points behind Reuben Fine . He tied for 4th–5th with Héctor Rossetto at Mar del Plata, with 10/17, behind Eliskases, Ståhlberg, and Medina Garcia. Najdorf won at Mar del Plata 1948 with 14/17, ahead of Ståhlberg (13½), Eliskases (12), and Euwe (10½). He

1500-467: The knight on f5 is difficult to dislodge without concessions. Games in the Najdorf frequently feature opposite-side castling, where White castles long and both sides launch simultaneous attacks on their opponents' kings. Black usually plans a queenside minority attack to pressure White's e4-pawn. This is often carried out by means of ...b5, ...Bb7, and placing a knight on d5, or c4 via b6. Players began experimenting with 5...a6 in

1550-407: The line has become a popular battleground in computer chess , with operators trying to "out-book" each other by going progressively deeper into the different poisoned pawn lines. As a result, the line is extremely well researched. Writing in 2010, FM Graham Burgess commented that current theory suggests that the b2-pawn is "not too heavily laced with arsenic", but that it would be suicidal to enter

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1600-517: The line without specialist knowledge. A Poisoned Pawn Variation also exists in the French Defence, Winawer : 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 Nbc6 (or 10.Kd1 Nd7). Like the Poisoned Pawn Variation in the Sicilian Najdorf , this line gives significant weaknesses for both sides and can lead to highly complex lines. White can attack on

1650-551: The main lines mentioned above, 6.f3, 6.g3, and 6.a4 are also respected responses to the Najdorf. Moves such as 6.Bd3, 6.Qf3, 6.Rg1 (the Petronic Attack), 6.Nb3, 6.a3, 6.h4, 6.Qe2, 6.Qf3, and 6.Qd3 are rarely played, but are not considered bad and may be used for surprise value. Other very rare moves include 6.g4, 6.Nf3, 6.b3, 6.Qd2, and 6.Bd2. Miguel Najdorf Miguel Najdorf ( / n aɪ d ɔːr f / NY -dorf ; born Mojsze Mendel Najdorf ; 15 April 1910 – 4 July 1997)

1700-526: The modern main line. Since the early 1990s, the English Attack, 6.Be3 followed by f3, g4, Qd2 and 0-0-0 in some order, has become extremely popular and has been intensively analysed. Four lines are then usual for Black: Introduced by Veniamin Sozin in the 1930s, this received little attention until Fischer regularly adopted it, and it was a frequent guest at the top level through the 1970s. White plays 6.Bc4 with

1750-441: The move: 7.f4. White threatens 8.e5, but Black has several options: Historically speaking, this was the usual reply until the mid-1960s, when the rejoinder 7.Bc4 put the move "out of business". Recently, however, the line has seen a resurgence in high-level play. The idea for Black is to postpone ...e6 to retain more dynamic options (for example, to play ...e7–e5 in one move). The most important developments include: This has become

1800-477: The next world championship, Botvinnik, Fine, Reshevsky, Keres, Euwe. ... None of these have a better record than I. I have played much less than they have, admittedly, but I am satisfied with my results. Pressure from the Soviet Chess Federation, perhaps pushed by Botvinnik, may have been responsible for keeping Najdorf out. In 1950, FIDE made him one of the inaugural International Grandmasters . In

1850-434: The opening. He played it as early as 1937. it was Miguel who realized that in this position the move 5...a6 was always useful for Black. If it is not played on the fifth move it will be played on the seventh or the fourteenth. So then, being a practical person, he thought 'if you have to do something at 7:00AM or at 9:00 or at 10:00, better do it as soon as you get up, and get it over with'. Ironically, Najdorf would abandon

1900-813: The same year he played at Budapest in the Candidates Tournament to select a challenger for the World Chess Championship 1951 , and finished fifth. Three years later, in the 1953 Candidates Tournament , he finished equal sixth. He never succeeded in qualifying for the Candidates again. He did come close in the next cycle, narrowly failing to qualify from the 1955 Interzonal , held at Gothenburg , Sweden. Najdorf won important tournaments such as Mar del Plata (1961) and Havana (1962). He also played in both Piatigorsky Cup tournaments, held in 1963 and 1966. Just before his 60th birthday, he participated in

1950-545: The ship for the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1939, Genia was ill with influenza , and chose not to accompany him. He arrived in Argentina on 21 August 1939. While the Olympiad was in progress, Najdorf's country was invaded and World War II began. Despite his best efforts, he never saw his family again. His parents, wife and baby daughter, and all his known relatives and friends, were murdered in The Holocaust including his father. However, many years later, by chance he met

2000-648: The theory and the popularity of the variation while at his peak, finding ways to exploit the weakness of the d5-square created by the Black's move 6...e5. Garry Kasparov would often transpose to the Scheveningen (6...e6) to avoid this problem when the two competed for the World Championships. In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of English players ( John Nunn , Nigel Short, and Murray Chandler ) began using an approach previously tried against other Sicilian variations, such as

2050-943: The two scored 8½/11. In 1941, he took second, after Gideon Ståhlberg at Mar del Plata , with 12½/17. Later in 1941, he finished equal first with Ståhlberg at Buenos Aires, the two scoring 11/14. In 1942, he won at Mar del Plata, with 13½/17, ahead of Ståhlberg. In 1943, he was second at Mar del Plata, behind Stålhberg, scoring 10/13. In 1943, he won at Rosario . In 1944, he won at La Plata , with 13/16, ahead of Ståhlberg. In 1944, he tied for first with Hermann Pilnik at Mar del Plata, with each scoring 12/15. In 1945, he won at Buenos Aires ( Roberto Grau Memorial), with 10/12, ahead of Ståhlberg and Carlos Guimard . He took second place at Viña del Mar 1945, with 10½/13, behind Guimard, then won Mar del Plata 1945 with 11/15, ahead of Ståhlberg, and repeated at Mar del Plata 1946 with 16/18, ahead of Guimard and Ståhlberg. He also won at Rio de Janeiro 1946. After World War II ended, organized chess resumed in

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2100-477: The variation later when the theory developed to become very sophisticated: "Here comes some kid who's memorized the moves and he kills me. He arrives with his books, he gets me into something I don't know and Najdorf dies at the hands of the Najdorf Variation." So from then on he played something else. A Ruy Lopez as Black, something classic in which the other had to know how to play chess to beat him. 6.Bg5

2150-440: The youngest of three daughters of Russian Jewish immigrants Isaac and Esther Jusid. They were married after only a few weeks of courtship. Adela was 11 years younger than Najdorf. They had two daughters, Mirta (b. 1948) and Liliana (b. 1952), and a miscarried son in between. Liliana was long resentful of the fact that her father was abroad when she was born, and did not see her until she was four months old. She describes her father as

2200-570: Was 13, she saw Jacobo die suddenly at a chessboard. The widowed Rita became an even closer friend to Adela. After Adela died, Rita and Najdorf became a couple, which Miguel's daughters accepted without surprise and with relief. Rita later developed Alzheimer's disease , and Najdorf became physically frailer. In 1996, Najdorf had a serious heart attack in Seville , which required a pacemaker insert. Upon returning to Argentina, he learned that Rita had been hospitalized with an intestinal blockage . He went to

2250-500: Was a Polish-Argentine chess grandmaster . Originally from Poland, he was in Argentina when World War II began in 1939, and he stayed and settled there. He was a leading world player in the 1940s and 1950s, and is also known for the Najdorf Variation , one of the most popular chess openings. Najdorf was tutored first by Dawid Przepiórka , then by Savielly Tartakower , the latter of whom he always referred to as "my teacher". At

2300-412: Was not until early 2008 that an answer to Black was finally found. After 9.0-0 b4, White has the positional sacrifice 10.Nd5!, which gives Black long-term weaknesses and an open e-file for White to play on. Since then, it has been popular on all levels of play. A notable feature of the Najdorf is the sheer amount of potential white replies - Grandmasters have played 22 different responses to 5...a6. Beside

2350-404: Was second at Buenos Aires 1948, with 8/10, behind Ståhlberg. Najdorf won at Venice 1948, with 11½/13, ahead of Gedeon Barcza , Esteban Canal, and Euwe. In 1949, he tied for first with Ståhlberg at Buenos Aires. In 1950, he won at Amsterdam , with 15/19, ahead of Samuel Reshevsky (14), Ståhlberg (13½), Gligorić (12), Vasja Pirc (12), and Euwe (11½). He also won at Bled in 1950. Although not

2400-429: Was talk of inviting him to the 1948 World Championship tournament , but in the end he was not invited. He had won an ostensible qualifying tournament at Prague by a margin of 1½ points. There was a view in some quarters that Prague had been a rather weak tournament, so Najdorf's accomplishment was downplayed. Najdorf stated in a 1947 interview: I believe that I am inferior to none of the players who are to participate in

2450-577: Was the oldest of five children (four sons and one daughter) of Jewish parents, Gdalik (Gedali) and Raisa (Rojza) Najdorf (née Rojza Rosklein ). When he was 14, he visited his school friend Ruben Fridelbaum's house, and his violinist father taught him chess. Mikel was immediately hooked, read books about the game, and was soon able to give his teacher rook odds . A musician friend introduced his fiancée Genia to Najdorf, but Najdorf and Genia fell in love, and Genia broke off her engagement and instead married Mikel. They had one daughter, Lusia. When Najdorf boarded

2500-562: Was used in the Monk episode " Mr. Monk and the Genius ". Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation The Najdorf Variation ( / ˈ n aɪ d ɔːr f / NY -dorf ) of the Sicilian Defence is one of the most popular, reputable, and deeply studied of all chess openings . Modern Chess Openings calls it the " Cadillac " or " Rolls-Royce " of chess openings. The opening is named after

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