Play Like Magnus! (A simple Anti-Najdorf Weapon)

The "Beginner's Move" that brought Magnus 4 wins in the World Rapid & Blitz

Happy New Year!

New Year means new chess goals. Perhaps new openings?

If you need a simple opening to play vs the annoying Sicilian Najdorf, look no further than a system introduced by Carlsen at the recent World Rapid & Blitz.

The setup is so easy, a child can learn it in 5 minutes!

After the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4!? we reach the following position:

I’ll be honest: I’ve always thought this plan was dubious and mostly played by beginners.

Why?

The problem is that White’s bishop can easily be restrained by …e6 and later …d5, meaning the bishop will have to move again. It feels like a waste of time.

Yet, things are not so simple.

Magnus showed that because Black’s c8 bishop is restricted, White can execute a standard c3 + d4 push to take over the center. It turns out this “beginner move” is actually a positional squeeze!

Carlsen won 4 games with this setup, including a brilliancy vs Caruana in the Semi-finals.

I decided to do a deep dive and analyze his games for this post as a video lesson.

🔒 The Openings Vault

For paid members, I’ve put together the full Lichess study with my analysis of the Magnus games and the key lines you need to know to play this yourself.

Plus, gain instant access to my complete library of Gambit Refutations:

• The Grob (1.g4) Refutation: Punish this annoying opening immediately.

• The Blackmar-Diemer Bust: Kill White’s initiative and make them defend.

• The Evans Gambit Neutralizer: Trade off their bishop, and get a great middlegame with no memorization required.

• The Stafford Gambit: Take the free pawn and never look back!