If it were another choice, say 6.Be2 or 6.f4, it would have been more useful to concentrate on the Najdorf iso the GPA. But the logical complement of the Keres Attack is either 6.Bg5 or 6.Be3. Both moves demand a lot of prepatory work indeed.

This has already been discussed in the thread "French setup against GPA". If I recall correctly, the indefatigable MNb did all the hard-core analysis for the rest of us.
The conclusions were not clearly drawn but ran along the following lines : after 3. ...e6, White has nothing better than 4. Ktc3 and he has no advantage against 4. ...Ktge7.
So the trade-off is that with 1. f4, White avoids 1. e4 c5 ; 2. Ktc3 e6 (since 1. f4 c5 ; 2. Ktf3 e6 ; 3. b3 gives him some prospects for advantage) and 1. e4 c5 ; 2. Ktc3 Ktc6 ; 3. f4 g6, but must be prepared to face other lines against the Bird (in particular "my refutation" 1. ...d6 ; 2. Ktf3 e5. More on this when I come to terms with the annoyingly resilient 3. e4 ef ; 4. d4 g5 ; 5. Ktc3 as championned by MNb) and gets no advantage against 1. ...c5 anyway.
By the way, we all know that if it weren't for 2. ...d5, White's best path to the Grand Prix would be 2. f4, but this is not because of 2. ...Ktc6 ; 3. Ktf3, when 3. ...e6 ; 4. Ktc3 leads to the familiar position, but the immediate 3. Bb5! would be the precise move-order. All a bit academic and irrelevant, but before that thread I had not thought about this interesting finesse.

a) In the past eg Short and Anand thought so.
b) Yes. After 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 Black plays the Accelerated Dragon and avoids the Maroczy Bind.
c) There is Lane's 1997 book on the GPA. Combined with the several threads on this site you are well on your way.

On your Najdorf problem: what do you intend to play against the Scheveningen?

I wish I could be more helpful but I don't think White has any other choice but to go into the Open variation if he wants an interesting game.  White's early f4 isn't ideal, but he's not worse either.

Quote:


Things may have changed but you might want to consider 6.0-0 which shouldn't lead to an advantage either but check out this segment from Donaldson's review of Rogozenko's anti-sicilian book (hopefully I'm not getting on people's nerves by continuing to mention this, but the full review can be found at http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_js/js_anti_sicilians_gd_black.html).

"Let’s try another system from the book, this time looking at something that’s popular with many players in the “B” to 2400 category: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 Nxb5 (Rogo makes us think that everything is a cake-walk here, but IM Zoran Ilic says, in an excellent and detailed article on this whole system, “Generally speaking, with all continuations Black achieves solid positions but his problem is that it is very difficult for him to organize adequate counterplay.”) 7.Nxb5 d5 8.e5 (Ilic gives this an “!” and says, “Black really has to know what he is doing, and even then it is not clear if he can equalize.” Zounds! That’s not what I would want to hear if I had decided to trust my soul to Rogozenko.) 8…a6 9.Nc3 d4 10.Ne4 Qd5 11.Qe1 Nh6 12.Nf6+ Bxf6 13.exf6 Be6 14.fxe7 Nf5 15.d3 Nxe7, Reinderman-M Hoffmann, Groningen 1998. Rogozenko says that this position is, “at least satisfactory for Black.”

Okay, I’ll accept that Black is equal after 11.Qe1, though the “at least satisfactory for Black” comment makes me think that the second player is the only one with chances. Not so, since 16.Ng5 forces Black to find a few good moves.

But Ilic also mentions 11.Qe2!?, a move that Rogozenko ignores.

BLACK TO MOVE, WHAT’S AN UNPREPARED PLAYER TO DO?
Suddenly things get more interesting: 11…Bg4?! 12.d3 Nh6 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Qc6 15.g4 f5 16.exf6 exf6 17.f5 and White obtained a strategically winning position, Plaskett-Hodgson, England 1999.

No problem, Black played poorly with 11…Bg4. Ilic says that 11…Nh6 is likely best, thinking that White probably should try 12.Nf6+ as above. However, the position of the Queen on e2 makes life easier for Black here than it did in the other line with 11.Qe1 since now 12.Nf6+ Bxf6 13.exf6 can be met by 13…Qe6! when White has nothing.

End of story? No, White can make use of the Queen’s position on e2 by playing (after 11…Nh6) 12.c4! Qc6 (Perhaps 12…dxc3 is better, but the play is still interesting: 13.Nxc3 Qd8 14.Qc4 when 14…b6 15.d4 keeps things hopping.) 13.b4! d3 14.Qxd3 Bf5 15.Re1 cxb4 16.Nd4 Qb6 17.Bb2 Rd8 18.Rac1. Now THIS is a chess position!", Donaldson.

MNb wrote on 05/06/06 at 15:03:26:

I think we basically agree
Though I dont have a problem with a6 in the closed as long as you dont move the pawn to d6.

MNb wrote on 05/05/06 at 20:39:50:

I have to disagree with this. Firstly black can delay d5, eg with a6 to avoid all Bb5 trickery or with Nc6. Secondly due to e6 the bishop cant really go to c4 which is what many GPA players want (after a6 that Bc4 looks really horrible). Thirdly I play a many similar lines as black (you can also get them via a french) and then I wouldnt like to exchange on e4 so quickly and first try to force white to e5 (then you get a very advantageous advance kind of french) or exd5 (which cant be bad for black either).

Personally I find that the lines with an early e6 in the various "antis" are usually underrated. They're very nasty vs the closed (which you will get if you move the bishop to g2 in the GPA) and is the main reason I gave up the closed.

But if you also play some open sicilians with f4, you could use this in combination with a GPA setup. Eg if black chooses a worse line you can stick with the GPA and if not transpose to an open. This may work best with quick d6 move-orders as iirc those lines in the GPA are not the best.