The Most Aggressive Way To Meet The Najdorf

Ah yes, the Rolls-Royce of chess openings. Named after Polish grandmaster Miguel Najdorf. One of the most deeply explored, popular and reliable weapon for the Black pieces at the intermediate, andanved and master level. But what if i were to tell you, you don't have to learn all this theory? What if were to tell you, you can just start attacking on the 6th move? What if I were to tell you, that the move I'm about to show you is a reliable weapon even at the master level? Let me introduce to you THE FREAK ATTACK.

what? Rg1??? This looks like a mouseslip, or like your little brother played a move. But the idea is pretty clear, g4-g5. And Black can't disrespect this off-beat threat. But before we get into the moves, let me show you some mindblowing stats. At Masters level, 6. Rg1 has a 32%* win rate. Across all levels, White scores 54-41%** and at 2200+ rapid or slower, White's score improve to 54-39%**. I hope you are convinced by now, that this weird move has a lot of venomous ideas behind it.

* only games played in 2012 and after
** according to Lichess' explorer tool

Black plays waiting moves

White's main plan is to play g4-g5, support the pawn with the rook on g1 or g3, place the bishop on e3 and the queen on d2 or f3, castle queenside and go to b1, and launch a kingside attack with h4 or f4. While it may not always be possible to achieve everything, most variations revolve around theese ideas.

But the higher you climb on the rating ladder, the more resisntance you will face. So now that you know the main idea, let's look at the most popular plans for Black

6... e5

By far the most popular response to the Freak Attack is e5, as it's the main Najdorf idea for black. But it doesn't scare us, as with Black's perfect play we get a better endgame.

But Black doesn't have to commit to d5. They can opt to stop our plan with h5, but that costs them a very important tempo.

12. f4! is a perfectly timed strike at the centre. The position remains very aggresive, but it loses it's off-beat nature, as it resembles a typical Najdorf much more than the other Black's responses.

But you might be wondering now, why does black have to delay h5, and goes e5 first? Well... they don't have to wait. 6... h5 is a move i face 2nd most often (after e5), so let's get right to it. Spolier: it isn't that scary at your and mine level, but if Black is better prepared they can wander off our preparation quite quickly, and still have an around equal poisition.

6... h5

Black doesn't yet show their cards. We can respond with Bg5, Be3, h3, and I think it's best to do the same as Black - don't show our cards, and play h3.

Very dynamic positions, as always in the Freak Attack. By now you should be familiar with the ideas of this opening, but how about we throw it all out of the window? It's time for THE GAMBITS. Yes! This insane opening not only offers unique dynamic posiitons, but also gambits. Not a gambit, but gambits.

The Freak Gambit

Not an official name (yet), but this line, is what inspired me to cover the Freak Attack in the first place. I found a never seen before idea, and I wanted to share it with you, but why not cover the whole opening. So let's start with the exciting part.

This is engine's top choice. Black tries to take control of the centre, e4 and d5 squares with the knight on f6, bishop on b7, and the pawn undermining Whites key defender - the c3 knight. The most popular response to 6... b5 by White is 7. g4, so this gambit is a surprise weapon in a surprise opening, but sadly Black isn't forced to accept it.

7... bxa4!?

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First of all what's the problem with taking on a4? Black loses an important piece of their plan, they can't kick our knight out anymore, so we can play g4 with a better version than originally.

In short, if Black takes on a4, you go g4, and remember this Rxa4 Ne6!! trick. Chase the weaknesses and you will win. With this out of the way, let's see what happens after b4.

7... b4! Nxe4 - The Freak Gambit Accepted

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Black continues with their plan and plays right into our gambit. They can still decline it by trading the knights, which is best and annyoing. We still have an aggresive position though. So let me show you why am I so excited about this gambit.

It looks like Nxe4 looses at first glance, as after Qf3 Nc5 Nf6+ wins an exchange, but our queen can't return from the corner after capturing the rook. Qf3 is still a playable option for White, but I prefer Bc4.

Black doesn't have a choice, they have to play e6, and Nc5 and there is my NEVER PLAYED BEFORE move - Bd2. But if they opt for Bb7, well... there is my another novelty after Bxf7!! - g4!

Keep in mind the Bg5 move to put pressure on the f6 knight, or pin the e7 pawn. If the bishop develops to e7, take it. Nf5 if the queen is undefended on e7, to win the d6 pawn.

7... b4! Nxd5 - The Freak Gambit Declined

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All that's left is to see what happens if Black avoids most of the complications, and exchanges the horseys.

Black has 2 ways to go about this position. g6, and boring Bb7. First let's look at the Bb7.

Very bland position if black knows everything, like with every off-beat opening. Bb7 Qc7 is played so rarely, there is no need to worry about it. At least against g6 we can still keep some dynamics, and play a very weird dragon, where Black often can't castle.

This position resembles a dragon, but still is somewhat unique. Now let me show you another gambit in this opening, that I don't have a name yet. It's rarer, but also exciting.

6... Nc6 - the nameless gambit

This move seemingly stops g4, since Black will take on d4, luring our Queen away from defending g4. But in reality, that's exactly what we want.

Well, that's all theory I have for you today, but I have 2 bonuses for you, for sticking to the end.

Bonus game

Crushing a 500 elo higher rated GM, and taking a draw in a +4/+5 position with this goofy ahh opening on the biggest stage is insane (btw it took me oven an hour of searching on YouTube to find this game, since I forgot what tournament it was from).

Bonus bonus

That's what I'm leaving you with. A little teaser maybe - the same idea in a completely different opening.

The end

Obvoiusly, a public study link for you: https://lichess.org/study/oIY6O8bO
And a game link, if you don't believe me: https://lichess.org/broadcast/45th-chess-olympiad-budapest-2024--open-i/round-1/XJ8g9CkA/olS08Hjw
Since I'm linking everything: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MhPuRc8jQGE (hmm, I wonder whose channel is that...)

Thank you so much for reading! And if you know a different bizzare opening idea, please share it in the comments, or hit me up privately (especially against the e6 sicilian). And thank you for the support and messages I've been getting. It's an amazing feeling, that so many of you appreciate and like the things I do. Thank you! <3