Answers.Body: <p>Julio Kaplan appears to be the first grandmaster to play it. The game that you mentioned is the earliest recorded that I can find.</p>
  <p>Note that this isnt the classical narjorf. That has 6...e6. This is the 6...e5 English Attack. Another thing to note is why this wasn't played before. It might not be all that good. Stockfish 16.1 NNUE Depth=35 16 CPU Core doesn't even have f4 in its top 5 moves. In fact, chess.com believes the game to tilt from wite's to black's favor by playing 8.f4. So, yes, Julio Kaplan is the first to play it, but it isnt a good move.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T17:54:30.817Z
Answers.Text: shows 8.f4 has the highest win percentage and highest avg elo according to chessbase live book
Answers.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:07:05.503Z
Answers.Text: btw english attack comes with f3 Be3 setup
Answers.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:08:23.557Z
Answers.Text: I am saying what stockroah says which is generally correct @cmgchess
Answers.UserDisplayName: Starship
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:30:18.957Z
Answers.Text: Terminology around Najdorf is a tad peculicar to say at least - e6 except when played against Bg5 is more or less transposition to Scheveningen. Be2 move is called classical in both dragon and scheveningen, so it should apply to najdorf to. English is when white plays Be3.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matija Sirk
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Answers.Text: In general don't trust engines too much in the opening phase - they aren't so good at it. Especially not Stockfish 16.1, since it doesn't exist yet. Nonetheless For me Stockfish 15.1 has 8. f4 for first choice (from depth 10 to depth 40 it keeps it in first place).
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matija Sirk
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:58:14.997Z
Answers.Text: What CPU core are you using, depth is pretty unimportant @MatijaSirk
Answers.UserDisplayName: Starship
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T19:01:59.670Z
Answers.Text: What matters is depth, not number of cores - number of cores only means that some depth will be reached faster. Still: 32 core, 128gb ram.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matija Sirk
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T19:02:47.087Z
Answers.Text: Wrong have a look around at some questions tagged depth @MatijaSirk
Answers.UserDisplayName: Starship
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T19:04:40.350Z
Answers.Text: I am correspondence chess master, I think I know how to use an engine. Maybe look at this answer to depth question I wrote: https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/41334/33999
Answers.UserDisplayName: Matija Sirk
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T19:07:22.563Z
Answers.Text: Read any other questions perhaps (such as what is depth) that answer doesn’t even support you @MatijaSirk
Answers.UserDisplayName: Starship
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T19:38:54.110Z
Answers.Text: i didnt check with engine but the high avg elo suggests that it has been the top move at high level based on some engine eval. i also have a filtered db (up until 2019) of games where both players are 2300+ and that also gives 8. f4 as top move (60 games 57.5 % win) vs 8.0-0 (38 games 47.4%). Anyway saying f4 isnt a good move is like saying 1.... e6 isn't a good move.
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Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-06-21T08:44:31.273Z
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Body: <p>In old mainline of Be2 Najdorf black played 7. ... Be6 instead of, today practically automatic, 7. ... Be7. This is because 7. ... Be6 is today considered dubious due to this idea:</p>
  <pre><code>[fen &quot;&quot;]
  [Startply &quot;20&quot;]
  
  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f4 Qc7 9. g4 exf4 10. g5
  </code></pre>
  <p>I tried to find first game with this idea in Caissabase. First game with 9. g4 that I found was played between Julio Kaplan and Walter S. Browne in 1972. Before multiple players played 8. f4 but answered 8. ... Qc7 with less precise 9. O-O, 9. f5 or 9. Nd5. So my question is: did Julio Kaplan discover this 9. g4 plan or was he, at least, the first player to play it in grandmaster chess?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:03:03.390Z
Comments.Text: i checked with mega database looks like this is the first time
Comments.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-05-21T18:22:07.250Z
Comments.Text: there is another game with 10.Bxf4 by Kaplan vs Saidy in 1972
Comments.UserDisplayName: cmgchess
Tags: <opening><history><najdorf>
Title: Was Julio Kaplan the first to play 8. f4 Qc7 9. g4 idea against 7. ... Be6 in classical Najdorf?
ThreadText: # Was Julio Kaplan the first to play 8. f4 Qc7 9. g4 idea against 7. ... Be6 in classical Najdorf?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-05-21)
  
  In old mainline of Be2 Najdorf black played 7. ... Be6 instead of, today practically automatic, 7. ... Be7. This is because 7. ... Be6 is today considered dubious due to this idea:
  [fen ""]
  [Startply "20"]
  
  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f4 Qc7 9. g4 exf4 10. g5
  
  I tried to find first game with this idea in Caissabase. First game with 9. g4 that I found was played between Julio Kaplan and Walter S. Browne in 1972. Before multiple players played 8. f4 but answered 8. ... Qc7 with less precise 9. O-O, 9. f5 or 9. Nd5. So my question is: did Julio Kaplan discover this 9. g4 plan or was he, at least, the first player to play it in grandmaster chess?
  
  **Tags:** opening, history, najdorf
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: i checked with mega database looks like this is the first time  
  > **username_1**: there is another game with 10.Bxf4 by Kaplan vs Saidy in 1972  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2023-05-21. Score: 1
  
  Julio Kaplan appears to be the first grandmaster to play it. The game that you mentioned is the earliest recorded that I can find.
  
  Note that this isnt the classical narjorf. That has 6...e6. This is the 6...e5 English Attack. Another thing to note is why this wasn't played before. It might not be all that good. Stockfish 16.1 NNUE Depth=35 16 CPU Core doesn't even have f4 in its top 5 moves. In fact, chess.com believes the game to tilt from wite's to black's favor by playing 8.f4. So, yes, Julio Kaplan is the first to play it, but it isnt a good move.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: shows 8.f4 has the highest win percentage and highest avg elo according to chessbase live book  
  > **username_1**: btw english attack comes with f3 Be3 setup  
  > **username_2**: I am saying what stockroah says which is generally correct @username_1  
  > **username_0**: Terminology around Najdorf is a tad peculicar to say at least - e6 except when played against Bg5 is more or less transposition to Scheveningen. Be2 move is called classical in both dragon and scheveningen, so it should apply to najdorf to. English is when white plays Be3.  
  > **username_0**: In general don't trust engines too much in the opening phase - they aren't so good at it. Especially not Stockfish 16.1, since it doesn't exist yet. Nonetheless For me Stockfish 15.1 has 8. f4 for first choice (from depth 10 to depth 40 it keeps it in first place).  
  > **username_2**: What CPU core are you using, depth is pretty unimportant @MatijaSirk  
  > **username_0**: What matters is depth, not number of cores - number of cores only means that some depth will be reached faster. Still: 32 core, 128gb ram.  
  > **username_2**: Wrong have a look around at some questions tagged depth @MatijaSirk  
  > **username_0**: I am correspondence chess master, I think I know how to use an engine. Maybe look at this answer to depth question I wrote: https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/41334/33999  
  > **username_2**: Read any other questions perhaps (such as what is depth) that answer doesn’t even support you @MatijaSirk  
  > **username_1**: i didnt check with engine but the high avg elo suggests that it has been the top move at high level based on some engine eval. i also have a filtered db (up until 2019) of games where both players are 2300+ and that also gives 8. f4 as top move (60 games 57.5 % win) vs 8.0-0 (38 games 47.4%). Anyway saying f4 isnt a good move is like saying 1.... e6 isn't a good move.  
  
  ---
  
  