Leko and the Najdorf

Continuing the topic I decided to take a look at Leko’s recent own games in the Najdorf. The result was surprising or maybe not.

It is a small sample, but maybe for a reason. The whole setup doesn’t seem suit to his style and apparently he himself came to the conclusion that he shouldn’t play it more often. Overall he played it 12 classical games with it and his score is no wins, 2 losses and 8 draws. This is a reflection of the recent trend: The Najdorf has become a negative freeroll where black has to find the difficult moves to make a draw. Chess is not transitive, therefore Leko’s own problems with the Najdorf may or may not carry over to Keymer, but so far I would say they do.